True Love's Greatest Assets
by TrinaRegina
Summary: "Don't you understand? The casting of the curse? That was the key to your happy ending, Regina. Snow White may have killed your first love, but she gave you your True Love. She brought it into the world." A fic that picks up where the finale left us hanging. Rated M. Emma/Regina. AU
1. Chapter 1: True Love's Secret

**True Love's Greatest Assets**

Mere minutes after Regina approached the edge of the ship to look out at the sea, she heard heavy footsteps behind her. Turning around, she saw none other than Gold staring at her expectantly.

"Can I help you?" She snapped irritably as he paused, both hands rested comfortably on his cane. Gold responded with an incredulous glare before settling on his usual smirk.

"Honestly, dearie, you would think your mother had provided you with the information about how all of this magic worked. It's a pity she had to go, she would have loved this."

Regina winced painfully at the memory of her mother. Every time she received a moment alone her mind insisted on showing her those final images of her mother's genuinely happy face. It had been a blessing for Regina, finally being able to receive the love of a mother for the first time.

The look in those eyes as she told her that she would have been enough and that no magic or worldly power could overrule their love was purely heaven. It was everything Regina had ever wanted to hear from her mother.

And, of course, Snow White had ripped that away from her. It was like losing Daniel all over again except this time innocence wasn't an excuse. She knew exactly what she was doing. Going into it, Snow must have known that she chosen to save the life of the criminal and murder his victim. Yes, it was always family ties that ended up blinding the weak-minded. _But he's Henry's grandfather_, Snow had probably thought. Little did she know, the Dark One was the reason for everyone's pain and suffering.

He was the provider of the curse that ripped all of their happy endings away. Regina was merely the catalyst for the reaction. An instrument in the plan and nothing more. Regina despised Gold more than anyone. Hearing him speak about her mother as if he had ever begun to understand who she was made her seethe with ever-growing hatred.

"Don't speak to me about my mother. I know you're satisfied, now that she's dead. I know you hated her for choosing power over you. What do you expect? She chose that over her own daughter. What makes you so special? If you were in her place you would have done the same, actually you already did."  
The man ignored the jab and continued to make his point.

"I came here to talk about the incident at the mines yesterday... A little birdie told me that you tried to destroy the failsafe? I never imagined the Evil Queen to be a martyr in desperate times, dearie. Seems that woman is growing soft, hm?"

Regina fumed at the man. Yes, she had decided to destroy the failsafe. It was the only choice, it seemed, inevitable and absolutely necessary. As the one to cast the curse, she should have naturally been the one to finally break it. After all, magic comes with a price, and it was hers to pay. Her son would have never forgiven her if she had done anything else, and his forgiveness and love were all she needed to die with dignity.

"I did it for my son." Her words were laced with the hatred that she felt for the man questioning her.

"Well, it's a good thing our Savior came along at the last minute, right? Like they say, never underestimate True Love's power. I just never expected the two of you, well, after seeing her parents I should have known..."

"What the hell are you trying to imply here?!" Her heart had begun to pound in her ears, and she felt physically sick. If she had understood him correctly, Gold was saying that Emma and she were... Not possible. She wouldn't even entertain it in her thoughts. Not in her wildest dreams. Never.

"Yes, Emma's True Love magic was enough to break the cursed diamond after I weakened it. It was probably enough by itself all along."  
There was a moment of brief silence, cut off by an exasperated sigh.

"No dearie, you must understand. One person alone is never enough to destroy a failsafe. That is how they are designed. The fact that Miss Swan is the product of her parents makes her no exception to that rule. Her magic may be the most powerful of all, but even it can be useless without its other half. In this case, given her inexperience, perhaps very useless."  
Regina stared at him, simply refusing to process the nonsense spewing from his mouth. He must be wrong. Her True Love, along with her chance at happiness, died a long time ago.

"My mother killed Daniel. He was my True Love. You of course know it is impossible to have two, so you are unfortunately mistaken."  
She was not expected the harsh laugh that she received from the man.

"Foolish girl, you just proved my point. You honestly think that Cora would have destroyed her opportunity to harness magic that powerful? If the stable boy had been it for you, she would have been unable to take him from you. Don't you understand? The casting of the curse? That was the key to your happy ending, Regina. Snow White may have killed your first love, but she gave you your True Love. She brought it into the world."

Emma Swan. She had been brought into Storybrooke by Regina's own son. She was, in fact, the very same Savior that had been foretold to destroy her. Was it possible that she hadn't been sent to end Regina, but the Evil Queen? Yes, she had proved her role time and time again. Saving Regina countless of times. From burning buildings, to lynch mobs, she had even tried to make her feel welcome among the townspeople. Even still, Regina didn't know if she loved the woman. She barely knew how to love at all. Then there was Emma to consider.

"What about Henry's father? Isn't he..?"  
Gold instantly looked as though his own dagger had been thrust into his chest. Yes, something was definitely wrong with him. He had been distant and hostile for the entire journey.

"My son is of no concern to you. Now, take this information I have provided as you will. Perhaps it will come of good use in the future."  
She watched him leave and disappear below the ship deck, her hands shaking violently as she struggled to process the information.

It was getting late. She had spent most of the journey keeping to herself. Sleeping arrangements had been organized hastily. Gold received a room to himself, whereas Snow and Charming shared a room, naturally. Regina had been there as Hook slyly offered Emma the opportunity to share his room, the largest on the ship. She had to disguise her bubbling laughter with a cough as she watched the disgusted blonde all but shove the pirate overboard.

That left one room, which was to be shared between the two women. Regina hadn't seen Emma much since the incident at the mines. They had met each other's gazes a few times, only to hastily look away as if they were committing some vile act.  
Emma looked upset, and it couldn't have been due to Henry's kidnapping. Her eyes were red and posture was slumped. Snow had been constantly doting on her grown daughter the entire day as she sat silently brooding by the ship's edge. The Emma Swan she knew didn't brood. Yes, there had to be something terribly wrong.

Curious to see what her sleeping arrangements for the next few days were to be, Regina decided to finally retire for the night. Making her way down the creaky stairs, she noticed a dim light and pulled open the door to find Emma already sitting on one of the cots, reading a book. It was the blonde that broke the silence first.

"How are you feeling?" She was no doubt referring to the torture. Truly, Regina felt mentally and emotionally drained. The world, it seemed, was determined to make her pay the price of her evils, and it was going to do it all at once until she broke completely. Ever since the death of her mother, one thing after another came after her and threatened to break her. A true answer was that she felt completely broken. As always, Regina kept her regal persona intact.

"I happen to be perfectly fine, Miss Swan. Or at least well enough to resist the need to mope around all day."  
She watched as Emma's eyes snapped up from her reading and flashed with hurt.

"I'm just worried about Henry. Excuse me for not being guarded enough to actually show it on the outside. My mistake."

"Speaking of Henry, when we do get him back, what are your family's plans? Are you and Henry's father planning on whisking him away to the Enchanted Forest for your 'happily ever after?'" Regina's mind flashed to the garden of magic beans that had been hidden from her. She remembered saving three of the beans to make her escape after activating the failsafe. One for herself, her son, and Emma. She had wondered if perhaps she could convince Henry that leaving everyone else behind in Storybrooke behind would be the right thing to do. Once they arrived home, she could make everything right again somehow with her son and birthmother. Her words about her son's father were hostile, but she couldn't help but feel threatened by him. She suspected that once the happy family was reunited with Neal's fiancè out of the way, she would be forgotten again.

Emma took a deep breath as she struggled to find the right thing to say.

"Neal is dead, Regina. They shot him."  
Suddenly, it all made sense. Emma's overly distant behavior, Gold's insufferable anger upon the mention of his long-coveted son, the pained look in Snow's eyes as she kept solace beside her grieving daughter.  
Regina immediately felt waves of guilt rush over her. She understood the feeling of losing someone you loved right before your eyes. Still, she had expected to feel relief at the disposal of the brutal competition and power-struggle that would have, without a doubt, been Henry's father.

"I'm... Emma, I had no idea."  
The blonde stared at her silently for a moment. Despite being hurt by her harsh words, she understood why the woman in the doorway was so upset with her. In her point of view, it looked as though her enemies were trying to steal Henry away from her and leave her alone in a deserted Storybrooke.

"I would have told you about the beans. The last thing I want to do is take Henry away from you, we all know how that would end. I didn't even know if I wanted go to the Enchanted Forest. It was just... so many things were happening all at once. Ever since my moth- Snow.."  
Regina stopped her from going to the subject of her mother's death immediately. Instead, she eyed the book in the other woman's lap. It looked vaguely familiar. Wait a minute, too familiar.

"Where did you get that?" It came out more violently than she intended

"Gold gave it to me earlier today, why?"  
Yes. She recognized it perfectly. The same book she had received from Gold when he had first started teaching her magic. No. She would not allow Emma to be corrupted like she was. She needed to learn how to use magic but not by having the Dark One himself mentor her way into corruption.

"If you're aiming to learn magic, then this is the last thing you want to use. You need hands-on instruction or you'll never get anywhere."

"Are you suggesting that I allow you to be my magical mentor or something?"  
Emma looked absolutely terrified. The blonde's hesitant attitude was not at all unlike Regina's herself when she first viewed magic with the typical reluctance of a beginner.

"Yes, Miss Swan, that is exactly what I'm implying."

And perhaps, she mused, this journey wouldn't be so unbearable after all.


	2. Chapter 2: Visions of a Pain Unspoken

**_A/N_**: _Thank you so much for the sweet reviews, follows, and favorites. They mean the world to me and just warm my heart to mush. I'm also __**my-urban-spell**__ on tumblr, and quite lonely, might I add. Feel free to contact me, whether it be saying hi or maybe giving me a prompt, whatever you please. Thanks! I sincerely hope you enjoy. Also, this chapter is a little dark at one point. References abuse. Trigger warnings may be a factor for some people. To be safe, I also went ahead upped the rating to M in preparation for upcoming chapters._

* * *

**Chapter 2: Visions of a Pain Unspoken**

As night finally enveloped the ship, Emma found herself unable to sleep. She tried everything. She tossed, turned, flipped her flimsy excuse for a pillow, and even tried counting backwards. It was no use. She settled on focusing on the deep, peaceful breathing of Regina, who had surprisingly fallen asleep mere minutes after their conversation. She envied her greatly for achieving an escape from the chaos, but in the back of her mind understood that her roommate was utterly exhausted.

After having her magic stripped away only to be forced to use it once again at its full potential must have been agony. Emma still felt a sting from using the bit of magic that had been required to destroy the failsafe diamond.

Yes, she now understood the woman's earlier warnings very clearly. She really did have no idea as to what exactly Regina Mills was capable of. If one thing was for sure, capability was definitely not a shared trait between the two of them. The blonde herself had felt like she was going to pass out a few times that day. It blew her mind trying to fathom how she could be so put together and rational-minded at a time like this.

Emma Swan had picked up a habit of developing major trust issues with certain people that wandered into her life. These minor hiccups in her ability to interact normally among people that she was expected to trust started when she was a mere child. It was difficult, being shuffled from home-to-home, discarded like an untrained puppy when times got tough. No matter where she went, kicking the habit of walking on eggshells and throwing up walls when new people appeared in her life grew progressively harder.

This in mind, it was no wonder she sensed major warning-sirens sounding off when Regina Mills had offered to be her teacher of the ever-coveted arts of magic. Likewise, the book that Gold had given her the previous day was shady as well. When she found out that it was also the book used to teach Regina the basics of magic back when she was a mere innocent adolescent she became immediately alarmed. From what she could infer, there was a thin line between good and evil and magic was a device that could easily sway any sane person into the depths of evil.

Yes, at first trusting Regina was the last thing she would have ever considered. After all, she was the same woman that became so corrupted by magic that she cursed an entire land to Maine. She used dark magic to rip out hearts, even the heart of someone she supposedly loved more than anyone.

However, Emma believed that the evil in the woman had all but vanished. After the near-fatal incident in the mines, she believed that the Evil Queen had in fact died that day. It was the second time Regina had all but offered her life in order to save the same people she had spent decades trying to vanquish.

She felt the overpowering pull of the magic in the mines that day. And even though she kept vigil by her parents during their final moments together, she felt a violent pull towards the woman putting her energy into the diamond less than a few feet away. Looking back on it now, it was almost as if her magic were trying to tell her something. Against all reason, Emma had ventured over to the shaking brunette. The feeling was overwhelming, like ice in her veins, as she stepped closer and closer. What could only be deciphered as the swelling of power made itself known in her chest and hands.

_You may not be strong enough, but maybe we are._

It was finally ending. Emma felt the power of the diamond being absorbed immediately. Starting out slow, then moving in all at once. Like a tidal wave, Emma felt herself violently fly backwards into the rough stone walls of the mine. Struggling to her feet, she glanced at Regina, who had already pocketed the diamond and was thankfully as unscathed from the blast as herself.

The celebration of their victory had been so short-lived. It unsettled her in ways that she couldn't explain. Couldn't they ever just get a break from all of this?

Her son, their son, was taken by the same woman that had stolen her-whatever Neal had been to her in the past. Along with the disgusting man that had tortured her son's mother, Tamara was going to pay a heavy price as soon as they arrived in their destination.

It was the most ironic thing, it seemed. Her presumed biggest adversary had quickly proved herself to be her entire family's greatest ally. The woman looked so innocent, so domestic, sleeping on the stiff cot that was mere inches away from Emma's own. Despite what her family insisted she believe; however, she had always held a mountainous amount of trust for the brunette. Going in to things, Emma held no doubt that Regina had good in her. For she had seen pure evil before in the form of disgusting men that would adopt a child from a foster home only for the mere purpose of stealing away its precious innocence.

Regina's loyalty to Henry was the one factor that drew Emma back in every time. In many ways, the woman was the answer to her never-ending silent prayers. There was rarely a day that went by in her life when Emma didn't think of her son. She wondered what his hair looked like, if he had gotten her nose, if his eyes were still the baby blue that was a standard for most newborns. Most importantly, her heart ached for the knowledge that he was safe and loved.

Yes, the blonde lost so many nights to sleepless daydreaming revolving around what his life may have be like without her in the center of it, as she should have very well been. She ached with regret sometimes, for she briefly entertained the worry that perhaps her son had suffered a fate similar to hers. No, not possible. Fate couldn't be that cruel to her.

She had tried, more than once, to track down her son's foster home hoping to gain insight on what his life might be like. It frustrated her beyond belief when she searched through record upon record, pooling months of her salary together to hire private detectives that may have been able to help her find closure.

It was always extreme effort that worked to no avail. She knew, now, that it was because her son had lived in a town that simply did not exist. Her worries were also at the most futile due to his adopted mother's never-ending provision and care that she displayed for her son.

One fact remained about Regina. She may have ripped Emma away from her childhood, but she atoned for it by giving her son a youth that held more privilege than his birth mother could have ever fathomed.

It was more than a little odd, the two estranged women lying in cots mere inches away from each other in the dark. One was unable to fall victim to the clutches of sleep, and the other fighting to escape the clutches of her worst nightmare.

Unbeknownst to her, the brunette beauty was far from resting in a peaceful slumber. She rarely ever was.

* * *

_She felt the fabric of her beautiful gown being ripped from her body. Punished again. Yes, this was her price to pay for being broken. No matter how many times he did this to her, she always resurfaced unmarked. Barren. Empty._

_She could have screamed, he would have just gripped her tighter. He never loved her. She was beautiful, but she would never be Ava. And no matter what she did, she could never give him an heir to the throne. _

_Her stomach began to lurch as she felt his disgusting, dry hands begin to touch the places that even she herself felt too innocent to touch. He always smelt of alcohol and sweat, a combination that made her gag on impact. _

_As always no amount of restraint could stop her from screaming due to the pain lacing itself between her thighs. It went on for hours, it seemed, until the tears that threatened her eyes poured out like fire and ice, bathing her face in the evidence of her inescapable prison.  
She let the words her mother had told her reverberate through her mind again. _

_'Just give it up Regina, let him have his way. You are a queen. This is your duty, to please your husband.'_

_After what seemed like eternity, Regina felt rough hands shove her away until her body was flush against the icy floor, no doubt marking her with the usual bruises that came along with her wifely duty. She was sure she should have been crying, but perhaps the tears were too ashamed to come. Through her muffled hearing, she heard someone mumbling orders somewhere above her. 'Take her to her prison', was the only thing she could make out from the conversation._

_She screamed and thrashed as she felt rough hands drag her to her personal hell._

* * *

Just on the edge of the brink of slumber, Emma Swan was awakened by a blood-curling, agonized scream. Her chest pounded, her body ached, her mind struggled to guide her into the right approach. It took longer than it should have for the woman to snap out of her shocked daze and refocus on the woman in the room that was in obvious pain.

Not bothering to think logically, Emma rushed to her immediately, placing her hand on her wrist in an attempt to rouse her.

She was not prepared for the images she saw, or the pain.

_**Pain.**_

She felt nothing but agony and heartache ripping at her entire body.

For a moment, her hand glued to Regina's wrist, Emma witnessed the abuse of her own grandfather firsthand. She felt herself rip away as she fell to the floor. It was a miracle she managed to hold in the bile threatening to spill its way out of her dry throat. The woman on the bed was still screaming.

Willing to risk the consequences, Emma grabbed the trembling figure by her shoulders and shook her as if her life depended on it, all the while screaming her name through her threatening tears. By some miracle, her eyes snapped open, blood-shot red and desperate. Moments passed, and the two women merely stared at each other. Whilst the younger had anticipated anger, she was surprised to find that she only saw fear and pain in the eyes of the other woman.

Until the shaking of her shoulders became apparent in the room's soft shadows, Emma had no idea that the woman was still heaving desperate sobs from her chest.

Emma Swan made a daring move. She went against all reason in her mind and pulled the trembling figure into her arms.

_Regina Mills, one of the strongest woman she had ever known, was breaking down in her arms._

And, for the very first time in her life, she allowed herself to be held.

Suddenly, the blonde had an epiphany. Haunting image still burned into her mind, it replayed itself on a loop, all the while making her clutch the warm bundle beside her a little tighter to her trembling form.

_No wonder she hated Snow..._

Perhaps Regina could have had a happy life, once upon a time. In the young woman's face, Emma had seen a sign of innocence that was undoubtedly ripped away from her by brute force. How could it _**not**_have left a gaping hole of agony in its departure?

No, Regina was never evil by choice. The evil in her was created, she learned, by the people that had surrounded her that were inescapable in her innocence. Even her own mother, the one that should have protected her from abuse and heartache, allowed the girl to be used to the point of absolute destruction. From what she understood, everyone in the Queen's own kingdom had been manipulated to work against her.

And what else could the woman have done but rise against her rebelling people?

Regina, ostracized by her own society as something foreign and unaccepted by the people, had done just that.

She ran away, not unlike Emma had done for her entire life, and in the only way that she knew how.

One thing stood clearly in her mind before she finally drifted off to sleep.

_All people- _even the Evil Queens of the world, she had learned, were deserving of a fresh start.


	3. Chapter 3: Connection

**Chapter 3: Connected**

* * *

After over two decades of waiting for them to fade away, Regina Mills still suffered from hauntingly vivid nightmares laced with the tragic events of her past. Along with the nightmares came the most terrible pain she had ever felt, and it kept vigil in her bedroom almost every night without missing a beat.

They were so vivid, so real. Even after killing the sick bastard, he still managed to violate her even in her sleep. Memories of being sent into the dungeon and treated like a vile criminal swam around in her mind until her head started to throb. After months upon months of careful therapy from Archie, she simply gave up on entertaining the idea that she would ever be rid of Leopold's abusive clutches.

It had gotten so better for a while. She only had the nightmares once every few months. Being tortured to near-death by the idiot in the factory had no doubt destroyed any traces of the progress created by years of careful rehabilitation.

She remembered one particular night, when Henry was around four, she had particularly vivid memory of the day her late husband had left her locked into the dungeon for hour upon hour because she had refused to... cooperate. She had screamed and cried so loudly that she awoke to a very scared little Henry, staring worriedly at her from behind his blanket that he was clutching. Seeing she was upset, he had crawled up beside her and burrowed himself into her waiting arms, snuggling as close as he could.

Perhaps that's why her subconscious had immediately reached out to Emma and all but begged silently for the young woman to hold her. She had been hypnotized by the golden curls of her Savior. Waking up from that awful nightmare might not have been too unlike awakening from a sleeping spell, she thought.

Getting to see her reality for the first time in what had felt like an eternity and being thankful for it beyond reasonable comprehension. That, she knew, was pure bliss.

* * *

When she awoke, Emma realized that her entire right arm had fallen asleep. Naturally, she made way to move it out from underneath herself. She was surprised to find that it wouldn't budge. That's when she realized that it wasn't wedged under her own body, but instead burrowed under the slim frame of the person that had broken down before her very eyes the previous night. Regina was sleeping peacefully, her hair mussed uncharacteristically around her relaxed face. It was foreign, getting to see her without the usual makeup that was usually there, masking away the woman's undoubtedly natural beauty.

For a moment, she wanted to reach out and touch the woman's face to make sure she was really there lying beside her. She decided against it and settled for focusing on the steady puffs of breath escaping from her bed mate's lungs.

Suddenly, she became frightened. What if Regina woke up and became angry that Emma, obviously beneath her standards, had crawled into bed with her? She would probably make some catty remark, degrading Emma for taking advantage of her momentary lapse in judgment and weakness. To save herself from the no doubt impending storm, she got up as carefully and quietly as possible, venturing out on deck hours before any of the others would care to join her. She allowed herself one lingering glance over shoulder and prayed that the brunette's deep-breathing wasn't staged.

* * *

She wasn't even slightly surprised when she woke up to an empty bed. Not that it disappointed her in any way, of course. Miss Swan was just doing her job description as the savior, she deduced. It was a very noble gesture, even for the blonde, considering all that she had done and said to the woman in the past.

In all seriousness, thinking about it warmed Regina's heart and moved her in ways she couldn't process in her groggy, early-morning daze.

She was even less bemused, when almost immediately after exiting the cabin she was bombarded by the very last person she wanted to see. To her greatest delight, the pixie-haired woman was absolutely livid. To whom did she owe her thanks? Regina assumed the woman's anger could be channeled at anything. She secretly wished that she was somewhat responsible, the fact that Snow had actually made the move to confront her for once in her life spoke volumes.

"Ah, darling Snow. It's a shame, the amount of time we've spent on this ship, and I still haven't seen hardly any of you. To what do I owe the pleasure, dear?" She watched Snow White's expression clearly grow from angry to livid as she moved dangerously close to Regina's face.

"You never stop, do you?" Well, that could have alluded to a multitude of things from the past, she mused, "So it wasn't enough to take my daughter away from me the first time, now you're trying to corrupt her until she ends up just like you."

Oh, this was just rich. Somehow, she must have figured out about she and Emma's plans to work with magic.

"I have to say, Snow, the lack of faith you seem to have in regards to your daughter's self-control is very... disconcerting." She watched as the other woman's mouth fell into a sharp frown, her words undoubtedly registering uncomfortably.

"No, Regina. I trust my daughter. The only one I don't trust here is you."

"Yes, dear, because that is certainly logical. Let us forget the fact that I, alongside your daughter, just destroyed my own curse's fail safe in order to save your entire pathetic kingdom from destruction." She directed her gaze away from the eyes of her accuser and discovered Emma talking to Gold on the far-side of the ship. At once, she was tempted to storm over and yank her away from the vile man. He was, no doubt, trying to persuade her into falling under his instruction again, no doubt.

"Oh, of course Regina. You are so noble for actually taking responsibility for your actions for once in your life," her face turned as red as the poisoned apple she had ingested many years ago in another land, another time.  
"We should just forgive and forget the fact that you sent our only hope of going home up in ashes, and as if that wasn't enough, attempted to annihilate the entire town by activating the fail safe."

It was Regina's turn to release her fury, but she was once again cut off by the other woman's frantic chattering.

"I know I will never be able to bring your mother back. Nor will I be able to resurrect your fiancé. I've saved your life before, Regina. In fact, Charming and I did that yesterday. Please, just do as I ask for once. Just stay away from my daughter. That's all I will ever ask of you."  
Regina blinked; she was genuinely surprised that Snow was going to such a great length to separate her from Emma.

Truth be told, the idea of helping her enemy's daughter had actually excited her. After all, she and Emma had developed a bond of sorts after the recent incident in the mines. Perhaps, the brunette mused, Gold had been right about her little _situation _with Miss Swan.

At first, she had refused to even take his foolish theories into account.

Still, she realized that Emma being her true love was the most ideal and plausible situation at that point.

After all, as much as she would have fought to deny it, she had always possessed a lingering doubt in her mind regarding Daniel as her one and only chance. And, loathing herself completely for it, she felt something that was unidentifiable for the Savior. Something was inevitable of course, as she had rightfully suspected when Emma had kick started her magic enough to use Jefferson's hat.

_Their magic had broken a curse._

_Their magic had transcended realms._

Generally speaking, Emma was not only like an answer to her prayers when she arrived, but also her biggest nightmare. She had constantly feared that one day the woman from her closed adoption would seek her out and threaten to take away her son. Regina had never suspected that woman to be the attractive, put-together blonde that had shown up at her doorstep.

She felt a need to protect her from Gold. The last thing any of them needed on this quest was for

Emma to be on the path to turning into the Evil Queen 2.0. Emma was the first breath of life that Regina had received since the curse had been cast. Time had literally been at a standstill until she, in all of her blonde-tresses glory, had crossed the Storybrooke town line.

"I can't, and I won't promise you that. You know, better than I now, the dangers of magic. Perhaps your daughter would like to learn how to control it before a brief bout of anger ends with the whole town's destruction when we arrive home." With that remark, Regina stalked off to find her student.

Emma was below deck, seated on a creaky wooden stool beside her cot. She was nervously studying her hands, as if she expected magical sparks to shoot out of one of her lean fingers at any moment. Her head snapped up at Regina's approaching footsteps.

"Hi," The blonde's greeting was almost unsettlingly reminiscent of the first day that they had met.

She shifted her weight awkwardly, as if she was fighting the urge to flee.

"I saw you talking to my...Mar- uh-Snow," she flushed a deep red color, still clearly uncomfortable with calling the young woman her mother despite the fact she had already done as such. "What was all of that about?"

Regina sighed, "Well, if you must know, I have serious doubts that your mother is going to be very approving of your choice to learn how to channel your magic under my instruction." She paused, remembering that Emma had never actually agreed to the offer. For a moment, she regretted sounding so sure of herself in fear that the woman may have changed her mind in lieu of her mother's obvious abhorrence to the idea.

"Alright, let's start with something simple. Shall we?" She flicked her wrist, procuring a small piece of parchment in her hand. "This is a very simple exercise. You must visualize, Emma. Think of something, someone, an event from your past, anything that makes you upset or angry. Hold it in your hand and destroy it."

She took the other woman's hand, opening her fingers and placing the paper in her waiting palm.

"Right, uh- my lesson. Regina, I..."

"Having second thoughts, dear? I'm sorry, I just assumed..."

"No!" the blonde's response was much more desperately loud than she had originally anticipated,

"I just... I'm not sure if I can do this."  
The brunette threw her head back and laughed, "Oh nonsense, dear. You're a natural. Trust me. You can do this, Miss Swan."

She slowly closed Emma's waiting fingers over the small piece of parchment.

"Now, Emma. I want you to relax. Close your eyes. Visualize something from your past. Something that you or another may have done that hurt you in some way, or perhaps a memory, maybe even an action that damaged you that in this case you would like to erase. More specifically, that you would like to burn..."

Taking a deep breath to steady her shaking form, Emma gripped the paper so tightly that her hand began to tremble. It was so hard, thinking of a memory that would somehow trigger her magic.

Suddenly, as if on cue, her eyes abruptly snapped closed. She now remembered exactly why she tended to avoid dwelling on her past.

* * *

_Her thirteenth birthday was finally arriving. She had been with the Smith family for going on seven months this Saturday. Unlike the other homes she had been shuffled into in the past, they didn't have any children of their own. To her knowledge ,Anne, her foster mother, was unable to bear a child. Her newly discovered parent was a very kind woman that loved Emma dearly from the moment they first met. For the first time in their lives, both women had begun to feel loved in ways they thought were purely unable to be achieved._

_The day had been planned for months. For her birthday, it was decided that Emma would get to go out to the restaurant of her choice. She was excited beyond belief due to the sheer fact that nobody had ever taken her anywhere special for days like these. _

_Emma eagerly pulled up a chair by the window that overlooked the driveway and waited for Anne to arrive home from work so they could finally celebrate. Emma thought briefly on how different Anne had been from her previous families. She was married to a man named Phil. Emma had rarely seen him around the house when she had first been adopted. _  
_ In fact, the only thing she knew for sure about the man was that he was an alcoholic. He and Anne were currently in the process of a nasty divorce because of it. Emma had heard them arguing very heatedly one morning. She heard a woman's familiar voice laced with anger._

_"You will not drink like this in front of that child, I simply won't allow it. I'll die before you raise a hand to either of us again," she referred to the day that her husband had come home completely incoherent. He had begun throwing things and had even hit his wife in the face whilst screaming profanity and hatred to his adopted daughter. Emma had been terrified, not for her life, but her mother's. He didn't look as if he would stop._

_ "It's me or that filthy little brat," he had said._

_ And she had chosen Emma. _

_For the first time in her life, someone had chosen her. She was wanted._  
_ When she heard the bolt of the front door begin to turn, she knew that her mother was home. Only, instead of the overjoyed woman she had been expecting, the young girl was greeted with a muffled sob._

_Her foster mother had been crying. She couldn't even look Emma in the eyes as she walked in. Instead, she made her way into her bedroom and slammed the door, where she proceeded to erupt into a series of broken, choked out sobs._

_Her mother had been fired from her job. She owed so much money, debt that was in her name thanks to her wonderful husband. She had no money now, not a single source of available income._

_The week after her birthday, Emma Swan couldn't bring herself to say goodbye to Anne when the car came by to pick her up and take her back to her old foster home._

_She did cry though, a couple of weeks later, after she heard of the woman's apparent suicide._

* * *

Emma felt herself trembling as she willed herself to destroy the memory that had now been associated with the scrap of paper in her palm.

It was only until a certain onlooker placed her hand soothingly on the woman's back, when she finally felt the sparks tickling her palm surge to life. She watched as scorching fire blasted from her open palm, engulfing the offending parchment into ashes black as the eyes of her teacher's.

Caught up in her reverie, Emma was far too distracted to see the look of pure agony on Regina's face as she was assaulted with her student's painful memory.


	4. Chapter 4: Yin and Yang

**Chapter 4: Yin and Yang  
**

* * *

Magic was definitely pure emotion.

This, Regina Mills was now very much aware of.

Painfully so.

She watched Emma carefully, noting the small changes in her expression as she fought her internal struggle to utilize the powerful magic that was bubbling within. Just looking at her was exhausting. Whatever memory the woman had chosen to focus on was obviously a very painful one that she had undoubtedly chosen to keep hidden away for quite some time.

She kept waiting by her side, just knowing that at any moment Emma's trembling hand would ignite in tune to her soul's pained form of fire-fuel. Yet instead of seeing the blonde look confident and angry, she looked forlorn and devastated behind her closed eyelids.  
The second Emma's shoulders began to heave with a silent sob, Regina couldn't take it any longer. She offered a reassuring squeeze to one of the offending shaky limbs. After all, magic was useless when wielded by the weak. Only, instead of the assumed warmth that she had expected to feel, the older woman was assaulted by a sharp shocking sensation. It wasn't at all unpleasant, actually.

Truthfully, the semi-erotic feeling ghosting her core would have made her groan with pleasure, had it not have been accompanied by an onslaught of horrible visions of a beautiful little girl's troubled past.

She saw Emma, young and innocent, for the very first time. She was so thin, scarily so, but beautiful all the same. Regina could have gasped at the immediate similarities she found from this girl compared with her memory of young Snow. All the more a reminder that the woman Emma was clinging to in the memory whilst breaking down wasn't her mother.  
She felt something rise to her throat, forming a lump.

_Guilt._

She felt guilty for what she put Emma through, though obviously unintentionally, through the casting of the curse. They were alike in so many ways through childhood, both unloved by their parents. Abused and neglected. Abandoned. The little girl in the flashback had looked so happy for a moment. Though her eyes were weak and her skin was splattered with dark bruises, the glow in her eyes outshone all of her signs of defeat.  
Little, innocent Emma was a strong girl. Much stronger than she had ever been given any credit for. At least more so than a young Regina ever could have been.

Yet Emma survived through her crippling struggles with pain, all without tainting her pure, innocent heart. That very fact was the key to her ever-growing fascination with the enigma that was the Sheriff.

The difference between good and evil. So that was the answer? Evil was simply retaliating when you are repeatedly abused by the world, and good was being strong enough to survive it unscathed?

Emma wasn't untainted either. They had both been damaged by the paths they had taken. It was proven fact then, neither good nor evil truly ever won. The two foils probably never even existed.

A voice cut through the room, abruptly ending the peaceful silence and shattering Regina's concentration.  
"Did I do ok?" She had to take a moment to put together her thoughts, and it only when she felt a warm hand gently caress her own hand resting in her lap was she able to find her resolve again.

She cleared her throat, "Yes, dear," she gestured to the ash in the waiting woman's palm.  
Emma's cloudy eyes instantly brightened, appearing relieved and even excited. The look of hope in her eyes echoed the younger girl's glistening gaze so profoundly that it caused her heart to flutter.

"Yeah, only because you touched me. No need to sugar-coat the situation at hand. I really was trying, though."

"I know you were, Emma... Perhaps try a less painful memory, one from an earlier point in your childhood?" Regina tensed, she hadn't meant to give herself away like that.

The blonde froze, "Wait... when you touched me, could you _see_ anything?"

She simply stared at the woman questioning her in silence. Would she be angry for accidentally intruding on her private moment?

Should she _lie_?

_No_.

No more lying. For Henry's sake, if none. It wasn't like she had meant to view Emma's private memories.  
"I saw it. The memory, I mean. Yes."

Emma was shocked. As of now, she knew, they had both essentially read each others minds at one point.

"Tell me what you saw," it came out far more hostile than she had intended. The brunette looked genuinely sorry, as if something had struck a chord deep within. Emma listened intently as Regina relayed the small sliver of her past briefly, though leaving out very few of the details.

"Miss Swan, I assure you, I have no idea what is going on. We may have to consult Gold on this. I never-"

She was cut off by Emma's reassurance, "Regina, it's fine. Look, we both already knew I had a pretty shitty past. And that wasn't even the worst of it, just something that came to mind. I'm not holding it against anyone. Better to be sent to a home than take abuse from that bastard, anyway. You'd know as well as I do how that would have ended."

Both woman froze, picking up on the meaning of those last words.

"And to what may you be referring to, Miss Swan?" her words were icy, exposing her greatest weakness.  
She sucked in a labored breath, suddenly fearing where the conversation was headed. Regina's eyes were like fiery coals, baring deep into her soul, daring her to have the audacity to tell the somber truth.

Speaking truthfully, Emma was terrified of the way the other woman would most likely react. The mayor, or at least the woman she had known as such, did not like to have her weaknesses stripped from her and placed in the open for the viewing. In fact, she must have been awfully closed-in. Besides Kathryn, whom Emma had rarely seen her with outside of David and Mary Margaret's brief not-so-legitimate tryst, the only other person she could think of that could have possibly been in some kind of contact with the woman was Archie. Even if he was her therapist, the guy got his claims to practice from a curse of the client's own possession.

"The other night you were having an awful nightmare," Emma began, still unsure if Regina even remembered anything to begin with. She had long been out of the room before she had awoken, and though she had briefly opened her eyes, she was so manic that night that it was doubtful she had even been somewhat coherent to begin with.

"You were screaming and crying. I was surprised you hadn't awoken the entire ship by the time I got up to try waking you.. I was just aiming to nudge your shoulder, but as soon as I touched you I saw..." Her voice trailed off as Regina sat eerily still, eyes wide and accusatory.

_This was utterly mortifying_, she thought to herself.

So many years, she had struggled greatly trying to push the memories of Leopold out of her mind forever. The man was dead, he was nothing more than an idea now.

But this? This was real. Emma had seen everything. She had watched Regina get violated in the worst possible fashion. The worst part of it all?

The man in the vision was her _grandfather_.

She felt absolutely sickened. And the way Emma was looking at her, like some sort of wounded dog made her feel just as vulnerable as she really felt.

She couldn't deal with this. She wouldn't. Regina Mills, the epitome of unscathed regal upbringing, was not a person given the luxury to break down in the company of another. She needed answers and knew just where to get them.

Without looking back, she bolted out of the room, going as far away from those pleading eyes of blue-tinted emerald as she possibly could.

* * *

Regina found herself on the other side of the ship, knocking furiously on the splintery wooden door of the quarters that housed Gold. She groaned in frustration as she knocked harder, willing the ancient man to assist her with her problem. True, it was the middle of the night. The Dark One didn't need sleep. He didn't need anything. Regina needed answers desperately, and she would stand out here all night until she received them.

A low rumble of thunder made her stagger backwards from the door mid-knock.

_Great_, she thought.

_He's going to leave me out here to get soaked to the bone._

When she saw a flash of light in the corner of her eye, she almost turned to go. As if he was reading her mind, the door of the entrance slowly creaked open, revealing Gold's glowering face.

The room was illuminated by a dim lantern, giving the only man that could truly intimidate her an extremely eerie countenance.

"You'd better hope you have a decent reason for disturbing me at this hour, dearie." He made a distinct motion with his arm, gesturing for her to follow him inside. She positioned herself on the edge of a rickety stool as he stood at her level to hear her tale.

She was very vague in her descriptions of she and Emma's... situation. The version given to him stated that both women had received recounts of what the other was thinking at the time when under extreme emotional duress. Expecting the man to be thrown off, he merely rolled his eyes and scoffed at her.

"Well of course. What else did you expect? That's why I wanted to teach Miss Swan in the first place, Regina. Magic is emotion, after all. Face it, dearie, you and she both harbor many feelings that ride the borderline of intensity."

She stared at him, not quite understanding what he was getting at. He sighed, exasperated."You and Emma are unique. You both possess a very large, powerful amount of magic. To my understanding, when you came in contact with Emma, your magic was linking itself with hers. It sought out whatever emotion that she was feeling with such intensity and claimed it as its own. Magic tends to do that, especially with the ones we are extremely... close to. It practically thrives on those intense emotions, using them as a fire-fuel of sorts."

_Their magic was linked, somehow...  
_

That was the singular explanation. Generally speaking, she had always felt Emma whenever she was around. Even before magic had returned to Storybrooke, her presence screamed power and intrigued Regina to no boundary. It almost intimidated her, but instead filled her with an insatiable desire.

Now, as she had learned, their magic was like yin and yang. Everywhere she went, there was a part of her that thrummed and yearned for its counterpart. Her other half.

Her _True Love_.

_Emma._

The one woman that would never want her. Just imagining the outcome of telling Miss Swan the extent of her ever-growing feelings made her stomach churn.

The only feelings good could reciprocate to evil were distaste and admonishment. She was well aware of this by now. She had tried time and time again to redeem herself, only to be cast aside again, remaining a simplistic outsider.  
Deemed unworthy of even her own son's care and affection.

_For no one could ever love the Evil Queen._

* * *

As if her emotional jump wasn't enough to put a damper on her evening, she felt a drop of precipitation hit the tip of her nose.

_Just what they needed._

A storm had arrived out of thin air, as it were, to put a damper on their already agonizingly slow-paced journey to Neverland. She prayed to whatever god may have been listening, silently begging that their enchantments to keep the ship on course pulled through. She continued to pace the deck of the ship, trying to drown out all of her lingering thoughts, focusing solely on the sharp sounds of her heels clicking on the sturdy wood.  
Yes, she just needed a few more minutes to compose herself.

Until she felt the rain starting to come down steadily and slow. It was almost intoxicating, the feeling of being drenched by the cold wetness that was pouring out of the sky so mercilessly. She didn't think about the repercussions that would undoubtedly be in store when and if she decided to return to she and Emma's cabin.

Now all Regina wanted to do was just get away for a while. Somehow, underneath the stars, black sky, and increasingly angry storm she felt whole. It reminded of her when she was just a little girl. A happier time.

A better place.

* * *

_She was ten years old that summer season._

_A week prior to her birthday, her father had requested her presence immediately. It had seemed very urgent at the time._

_Meetings with daddy always were._

_Regina loved her father more than anything in the world. He tried his very hardest to spend as much time with his little girl as possible. If there was one fact the kingdom was aware of, it was the love he had for his precious daughter._

_Knowing this, even Regina couldn't hold back her surprise as she walked with him, hand-in-hand, until they reached her early birthday present._  
_ Ever since she had seen a horse grazing in the palace fields, the young girl had begged her daddy for one of her own. He had been hesitant at first. Cora had abhorred the idea completely, arguing that horseback riding was a very unladylike habit to take on. After all, her daughter was destined to be the queen of all the lands one day. Then there was the manner of hiring staff to maintain the stables. She couldn't have her daughter taking on chores of a common woman, like tending to barn animals._  
_ Seeing how adamant her husband was to satisfy her pitiful little daughter, she indulged his minuscule ploy. Better her daughter befriend the barn animals than run off with some commoner that would require a messy disposal. Besides, all satisfactory noblewomen had the basic knowledge of riding side-saddle._

_King Henry received nothing short of delight at the sight of his daughter's ecstatic outburst whilst taking in her present. Father and daughter spent hour-upon-hour that day picking out unique names for each horse. He taught her how to position the saddle and made sure she could climb up without his help. By mid-day, Regina was already riding on her own. She was a natural._  
_ Hours upon hours passed, until a clap of thunder startled Regina's horse. Luckily, her father was close by and the horse had already slowed to a steady trot before the outburst. _

_"I think we should be going back now, angel. Happy birthday. I can't believe my little girl is going to be ten next week. You're getting too old."_  
_ She rolled her eyes and smiled, "Can't we just stay out here forever, daddy?"_  
_ Before he could answer, another violent clap of thunder sounded._

_"Actually, we may have to do just that," he ushered her inside the stables and shut the door, locking it tightly. Even in the dimness of the stables, Regina could barely decipher the periodic illumination of the outside field from the lightning accompanied by the storm. The wind was picking up, causing an eerie whirring sound to reverberate through the small stable. She bit back a cry, forcing herself to stay strong._

_Her father wasn't falling for her ruse; he knew the daughter he loved far too well. He wordlessly pulled the trembling bundle into his arms, shedding his thick overcoat while draping around her trembling frame._

_Next thing she knew, Regina awoke in her spacious bedroom. Her father had carried her the whole way home and tucked her in._

* * *

Her father, the only one that truly loved her back then. Little did he know, the gift he had given to her that summer would lead her to the consequences of a broken heart.

As fate would have it, just a little over six years later, a young man named Daniel was hired to tend to the stables after the original caretaker had passed away.

It was a shame, really, for the young woman's only happy place to be tainted by the awful event that was his demise. Rainy days always brought her back to the likes of these. She had learned to love the rain; she thrived in it.

She was soon to learn that even old friends can become enemies.


	5. Chapter 5: Letting Go

_**A/N**_: _This is necessary, for there are some situations that hint towards suicidal behavior in the following chapter. Such content may have the potential to be triggering, so proceed with caution. Reader's discretion is advised, as always. I would also like to take this as an opportunity to thank each and every one of you, no matter if you just simply read, favorited, followed, or reviewed this fan fiction. You are all truly amazing and I love you!_

**Chapter 5: Letting Go**

* * *

Minutes faded into what felt like hours, and there was still no sign of Regina Mills anywhere on their damned side of the boat.

Emma was past the point of exhaustion. She desperately needed to sleep. The past few days had been unadulterated hell for her, and she wasn't about to sacrifice her increasingly limited hours of rest by looking for Regina. She figured that if she did just that, she would end up discovering the woman on deck simply getting some fresh air. It just wasn't worth the risk, she concluded, finally allowing herself to drift off into what had become a long-coveted state of slumber.

* * *

After an unknown amount of time, she woke up to find Regina's cot resting empty and undisturbed.

_Great..._

She must be angry with her again.

Emma was way past getting sick of the situation. She was so tired of being stuck in such close proximity with these people. This was just too much. She was past disgusted of Hook's constant attempts at cunning ploys that consisted of his pervy ass trying to get in her pants every five seconds, no matter how blatant her protests. Seriously, that guy needed to invest in a cat or something. Most of all, she was steadily growing more hostile over the constant pressure of her parents coaxing her to avoid the evil temptations of Regina, assuming that she was planning on receiving lessons on some kind of dark arts from her, no less. Gold wasn't even worth getting into, that man was just an ever-lurking creep, plain and simple.

Ever since Neal's demise, Emma winced as she remembered, she had been catching him giving her glances with a wary third eye. It was as if he knew something big and she didn't. The whole thing just made her skin crawl. She had made it a point to avoid him on the trip as much as possible. He reminded her far too much of his son each time she allowed herself to glance at him. Neal, the same man she had confessed her feelings that had died and gone to hell around ten years prior to their resurfacing. Just the mere thought of having to sort all of those hidden-away feelings out again made her stomach turn.

She would get over his death eventually. Right now her main goal was to find her son. Wherever they had taken him off to, he must have gone through pure hell by now. The kid just got over almost losing his mother, twice. Hell, he had almost lost everyone he had ever known. He hadn't even been able to fully mourn the loss of his birth father before being tossed into another situation of havoc. More so than anything, Emma herself had nearly lost him. Hell, she'd nearly lost herself and everyone that surrounded her in the hush-hush town of Storybrooke.

And Regina?

Well, things were going pretty swell until she might have accidentally brought up the fact that she kind of invaded her private nightmares in an attempt to stop her from screaming bloody murder and waking the entire ship in the process. It wouldn't be possible for the brunette to place all of the blame on Emma, right?

Likewise, the older woman had made the very same mistake as she had done this very night. She had bared witness to one of Emma's own most painful memories and had recounted it perfectly to her as if it had been one that was written in the books. Whatever it was that had gone wrong, Regina definitely wasn't the solitary victim of the situation. Emma was extremely worried about her, for all that was worth. She hadn't been able to get that horrendous nightmare out of her head. Just thinking about it made her long to pull Regina into her arms and make it go away forever, no matter how much the two women had been at odds with each other. She needed to assure her that the monster lurking in that bedroom couldn't and would never be able to touch her again.

Because if there was anything Emma couldn't stand, it was a woman being forced into something that she isn't comfortable obliging to. The abuse she had witnessed the brunette receiving was unlike anything she had ever been exposed to before, and for Emma that was definitely a statement that held great merit. The fact that Regina had been subjected to a level of abuse that extreme, and it was inescapable... Deep in her heart, Emma knew that above all else, those scars alone were more than enough to accept the blame for the woman's past transgressions towards her own family.

The mood she had taken on during the ephemeral trance was intense, aching desperation. Now, she held grasp to an understanding that the situation that Snow White had put her stepmother in was literal agony with little-to-no chance of the freedom that Regina had coveted in her innocent youth. As much as it sickened her to think of it, Emma was beginning to believe that the curse may have been necessary and even justified. After all, if that level of abuse was continuous then it was no wonder Regina had let herself shut down. Her mother, husband, and entire kingdom had exiled her and refused to accept her for a solitary flaw that she couldn't control.

_Oh_, Emma's breath hitched as she tried to compose herself.

_Regina had been unable to have children._

It made sense now, all of it. After she had realized that killing Snow White would never give her happiness, she felt that if weathering constant streams of abuse didn't warrant you a little happiness, then nobody deserved to possess it. Thus the idea of the curse was formed and it was taken into action.

The night of the rescue, Snow had sat down with her and explained the reasoning behind Greg's relentless torturing. It had Emma thinking deeply about what Regina's own mindset might have been thinking back then when she had invited the boy and his father to join her as a family.

After being exposed to little, rebellious Owen she must have discovered what she had truly desired all along. When Emma reflected back to her childhood, as unorthodox as the notion was, for a moment she entertained the idea of Regina adopting her. How different would her life be now, without all of the pain and abandonment from her early life? Would she have reacted like Henry when she found out about the curse? Did Henry even realize how blessed he was, possessing a mother as loving and protective as his own?

Luckily, he possessed the rights to a version of something that Emma herself had been dreaming about longingly for her entire existence.

_The perfect mother._

Children, in general, were like perfect salves for the wounded, unloved soul. Regina had craved someone that would hold the capacity to need, want, and love her completely. Someone that nobody could take from her and would always belong in her arms when life got in the way of their happiness. In essence, she had pined over something that had long been concluded as unable to be had unknowingly given her just that and then managed to take him away. She could just kick herself for being so blind. Unbeknownst to the blonde, this new-found knowledge of the thin ties holding the brunette's past together was slowly making her feelings for the other woman bloom into something steadfast and unconditional.

So she sat in bed, silently waiting for the soothing sounds of her roommate's footsteps that would announce her return. Instead she was greeted by a violent clap of thunder and flash of white lightning powerful enough to make her jump out of her peaceful reverie.

_Shit, Regina must be out in the middle of this._

Heart thumping in her ears, she struggled with the metal clasps on her boots. She just hoped that the woman she was searching for hadn't fallen overboard.

* * *

She felt as if she would never receive the luxury of breathing at a normal, steady rate again.  
Regina replayed the conversation in the cabin with Emma over and over until it left her head spinning and mouth dry.  
The weather's increasing ferocity was causing her adrenaline to kick in.

Of all she had anticipated that conversation to result in, the topic of she and Emma's apparent connection was the last.  
Alright, maybe she had known it in a smaller part of her mind all along. This just wasn't a situation that she felt belonged to her at all. It was completely foreign.

Villains, evil queens, _her_ kind...

They couldn't afford the luxury happy endings.  
Yet here she was, just having had an invigorating conversation with the all-seeing Dark One, whom seemed dead-set on convincing her that she and Emma possessed a deeply rooted connection.

But that was impossible.

Emma didn't love her. _Nobody_ loved her.

It was written in the book itself; the statement had been set in stone. The Evil Queen was incapable of love. She couldn't feel it nor reciprocate it in turn. Even her very own baby boy was unable to truly love her. At least, she would have liked to believe he was hers. She was the one that raised him, from the beautiful baby boy to the handsome young man he was morphing into day by day.  
God, if she didn't love that boy more than anyone had ever loved anything. What she would give, just to hold him again. She had taken the years before the curse had been acknowledged for granted, and for that, she loathed herself evermore. Now all she had were the memories.

The day she received Henry from Gold would always be her most treasured memory. He was skeptical at first, wondering if she being a young, single-woman would be capable enough to provide a fitting environment for a child. Yes, she had her doubts in the beginning. She was her mother's daughter, after all. Those doubts all vanished when she saw the tiny, crying angel in the man's waiting was as if they were made for each other. She had moved closer at a slow pace, afraid that the baby might somehow sense the evil in her heart and cower away in fear. He didn't. He had practically demanded her, arms grasping for her instinctively as he cooed and tittered to her longingly.

The moment she held Henry Mills in her arms for the first time, Regina knew that he had, from then on into eternity, staked a permanent claim on the gaping abyss that was her heart. It was easy to forget the curse, even when all of her past enemies seemed to interact in scripts and repetition, for her son quickly became her entire world. Neither of them seemed to mind that much. She tried to the best of her ability to treat her baby boy like the prince he would have been in another land. She took each precious moment, his first word 'mama', first steps, first birthday, and hundreds of other memorable events and treasured them. For all good things must come to an end, and with each passing year she knew time was running thin. It seemed the hourglass had finally run out. Something nagging within told her that Henry wasn't really hers anymore, at least not in the way that he was before the truth came out.

The tears mingled, hot and heavy, with the cold rain that was now flowing freely from the night sky. She managed a choked-sob, only to have it drowned out by a violent clap of thunder. Normally she would flinch at nature's growling protests. She was far too out of her element to care about anything now. Perhaps, she mused, she could fall overboard. Maybe when she awoke she would find herself with Henry, away from this chaotic family vacation. All she craved now was the soothing warmth of his tiny frame against hers.

_Her precious baby boy._

Shoulders heaving, another sob shook through her body. It was getting colder now; the entire ship was shaking, forcing her to grip the side for support until her knuckles were pale white. Hesitantly, she glanced at the water. It looked so close, so easy to get lost in...

She imagined what falling into it would feel like. The coolness of the water enveloping her entirety, beginning to seep into her nose and mouth, filling her lungs... How it would be so simple to hoist her body overboard, if not for the violence of the present storm. Now she could only bring one name into focus through her agonizing breakdown. One name keeping her on this boat.

_Henry._

What could they be doing to her Henry?

How did taking him away benefit them?

What had their motive been?

Then, it hit her. Like a knife through her blackened heart.

She had killed Greg's father with no less mercy than she would have possessed with a mere insect. She felt herself shudder again as her mind imagined the worst possible and most probable scenario at hand.

It would have been perfectly fitting. Perhaps he had stolen her baby away because she had taken his father.  
The rain was coming down in sheets, hitting the woman on board like bricks on fragile glass. If she were any more coherent, she may have realized that her clothes were soaked completely through. Her knees shook violently, fighting for stability, until finally giving away under the strength of her most violent cry for mercy.

And there in a heap, she lay a fallen Queen.

For what could have been determined as hours, she felt her body slowly start to grow numb from the cold. She was far too tired to care.  
In theory, she should have been terrified. Here she was, in below freezing weather. Soaked to the bone. Shivering to the inner depths

of her core. Instead, allowing herself to lie there, a little voice in a faraway place told her everything was fine.  
Perhaps that voice was her daddy, she assumed, calling to her to come inside again. Any minute now, she would wake up in her childhood room. Mother would come in and brush her hair, get her ready for the ball.  
All to help her daughter receive the hand of the most profitable suitor.  
Her main goal, simply to help the young girl that was her one and only find her best chance at true happiness.  
Yet as hard as she tried to, she couldn't feel the warmth of the palace's fire beckoning her to sit for hours, reading.  
As hard as she tried, she couldn't push herself to find the pathway she had crafted to the stables, the very place she had made permanent in her mind by memorizing every little piece of hay and dew drop she could bare to view on that fatal day.

**_No._**

That life was now long gone. Her mother had never loved her then. The woman she had loved with everything she could have given was simply a hollow shell of what a mother's being should truly be composed of. She did possess a mother once, though. For one solitary moment, Regina had received the amazing untainted magic of a mother's unconditional love and affection. She would give everything in this moment and the next to have one more second of it again.

Regina had done the unthinkable and killed her own father for her own sick ploy for revenge. The same man that had made the constant effort to supply her everything she had ever wanted. What if the only way to pay the price of her heavy-weighted magic was to join him in his fate?

Her nerves were screaming now, and a place deep in her chest ached with a crippling ball of anxiety. If her throat wasn't closing steadily, she would have been screaming over the storm. Everything hurt.  
Finally, some seemingly sane voice inside of her whispered let go.

To resign to her fate.

And she finally did just that, slowly succumbing to layer upon layer of splotchy, thickened darkness.


	6. Chapter 6: Healing the Hurt

**Chapter 6: Healing the Hurt**

* * *

The minute Emma Swan opened what could only be described as a sad excuse for a door, she was greeted with a sharp spritz of freezing rainwater from the now intense thunderstorm.

"_Fan-fucking-tastic_," she cursed under her breath. Not even a minute in and she was already soaked, teeth chattering and lips quivering, no less.

It was pitch black on deck, save the periodic flashes of white-lightning resulting from the storm raging on around her and an eerie glow being produced from handful of lonely stars. Every second spent, literally soaking in the current situation, had her heart hammering at a mile per minute.

Something was horribly wrong here. She could sense it, and she was never wrong when it came to her gut instincts. As the others claimed, she possessed a superpower. Just one of the many perks of being the Savior, she guessed.

She felt something inside her bubbling, some unsatable need for closure regarding the safety of Regina. She just needed to see her again and the unease would dissipate. Disappearing was totally out of character for her. Emma had always been the person that ran away from her problems; Regina faced them head-on. Maybe she had gone to another cabin? No, that was impossible. She would never set foot near Hook for any reason other than to utilize his ignorance to her advantage and there was no need for that at this time. Generally speaking, her feelings toward him, or anyone else on this ship for that matter, were anything but cordial enough to shack up in their cabin at this hour.

And in regards to Emma's own parents?

Hell would have to freeze over and thaw out again. But there was still Gold to consider, which was less unlikely however still probable... Unless she went to him for intel about their peculiar situation.

Yes. She must have, right?

Emma decided it was her responsibility to find out.

Making her way around the shipdeck, she made sure to double-check every nook and cranny of each area she passed by.  
Though the blundering storm drowned out most of her futile attempts, she continued to cry out the woman's name. It was almost comical, the way she was stumbling around in the dark and practically soaked to the skin. So much for salvaging the clothing that Gold and Regina had magicked up for them because they were too distraught to remember to pack prior to leaving.  
She made a point to go below deck and check out each cabin. All appeared dim and soundless, the occupants no doubt retired to a deep slumber that Emma now envied with intense longing.

She cursed up at the sky, not unlike a child.

Regina Mills would be the end of her; the infuriating brunette would make doubly sure of that. The damned woman had to be so difficult with her large, immobile walls that hid her broken soul from view. As much as Emma would have welcomed the idea of coaxing the woman into her makeshift family, she just didn't see how convincing Regina that the whole Charming family alliance wasn't out to destroy her would be possible.

At this point she didn't even know how her parents even felt about their perceived Evil Queen. Yes, Snow's shift in attitude towards the woman suggested a broadening range of acceptance for her adversary. Perhaps literally feeling and experiencing a piece of Regina's intense sorrow through her own five senses had in turn opened her tightly-closed mind a little wider. There was obviously still an intense conflict between the two women. That, she realized, would most likely never be sorted through. Still, for the most part, save the brutal confrontation in regards to Snow's only daughter's lessons in magic, they had been relatively docile with each other given the circumstances.

Emma simply wouldn't allow the topic of the curse to complicate her feelings toward either of the women.  
Of course she had been angry at Regina for a while after learning of the curse. In turn, the same feelings had been directed towards her own mother after learning she had sent her away in a wardrobe when they could have easily gone together. Essentially, Emma felt as if Snow had chosen the power of prophecy over her baby's well-being. As selfish as it was, she still felt a little betrayed deep down because of that fact.

Furthermore, the knowledge she had gained from her intense run-in with Regina's dark past had her almost grieving for the loss of the woman's innocence. There was no doubt she had in fact long ago been the very same girl that Snow had fought repeatedly to bring back out of her through second-chances and tests.

Emma didn't have to dig too far deep to understand the reasoning behind her failure.

She knew better than anyone that the person you become is the result of the hardships that you weather and the choices you make to escape them. Regina had made her choice. Was it the right one? Only she held the right to form that opinion. Likewise, she had apparently survived her hellish adolescence but, as the other night served proof, she did not make it through unscathed.  
That was what scared her the most about Regina Mills. She was as desperate as Emma herself for love and affection. In an emotional outburst, she truly had no idea what kind of tricks the former queen had up her sleeves. She had let her guard down once, making the ridiculous mistake of trusting a mere dog's sense of sight over Regina's own blatant honesty. That mistake had almost cost them their lives.

She was so easily swayed back into the arms of her mother, so desperate for the acceptance that Emma had dangled in front of her face only to snatch it away just as quickly... She had gone against her own better judgment which had seemingly been building up once again after years of intense ,but always self-guarding sessions of therapy. The heavily broken are always the most fragile. Emma would have done less damage by breaking a mirror or hurling a vase at the wall.

And now she must be going through all kinds of hell with Henry missing. If there was one thing Emma truly understood about her son's one true parent, it was that she was completely emotionally attached to her son. Almost unhealthily so.  
He was, in a strange sense, the person Regina had chosen to build her entire, falsified life around. She had fashioned Storybrooke to suit her very utmost desires, morphing it into her vision of what a perfect town would be. After the curse was broken, her simple world had erupted into chaos. Hundreds had demanded death as the price for her black magic.  
Emma Swan, arguably one of the most damaged by the Evil Queen's curse was the singular voice that demanded she be spared.  
It was almost mindless, her split decision to jump directly to the woman's defense. After all, this was the very same person whom, mere moments prior, had attempted to place Emma under an ill-fated sleeping curse that had nearly killed their son.  
She had been unable to fight her desire to protect Regina since the very beginning. As hard as it may have been to accept her role of

Savior, something about saving Storybrooke's infuriating mayor had just seemed... right.  
She would love to do the very same over again in the present, if need be. Her only setback being that she had little-to-no idea where her roommate had sauntered off to earlier. She didn't seem at all angry, albeit maybe a tad irritated, but that was standard Regina. If anything else, she was probably just sending out that emotion as a shield from any oncoming compassion. Damned woman always had to have those walls up.

With the wind-chill of the night air steadily increasing, it became that much harder for Emma to maneuver her way around the ship. Her eyes were stinging, hands numb from the exposure that opting to forgo her gloves had provided.  
Yeah, so much for it being summer back in Storybrooke. Neverland must be beside Iceland or something...

Frustrated and past the point of fatigue, Emma made her way to the very front-most part of the ship. The one place that she hadn't looked over in her initial observation.

She would have never been able to prepare herself enough for when she finally laid eyes on exactly what it was that she had managed to overlook.

_A body._

_Regina..._

There she was, lying still and painfully cold. Emma could feel herself breaking on the inside, doubling over the tiny woman. It was as if someone had hit a pause button on reality. Her ears were ringing and the back of her throat was stinging as a hard lump formed. She struggled to move her lungs, the wind chill finally beginning to affect her over the heat being pumped out by her frantic heart.

_Snap out of it, Swan._

As carefully as she could have possibly managed, Emma hoisted Regina into her arms securely as she could manage. Adrenaline pumped hot and heavy now, and she managed to maneuver her slender frame into their freezing cabin unharmed. Moving at what felt like light speed, she turned on the shitty excuse for a lamp by her bedside and attempted to get a good look at Regina to determine the detrimentality of her current condition.

_'Shit'_, the voice inside Emma's head had practically chosen the word as its mantra.

Her normally tanned, immaculate skin looked blue. The trademark plummy-redness of her usually perfect pout had been tinged a sickly purple color that alarmed Emma to no end.

Refusing to panic, she began to remove the ruined clothing. Even her lacy undergarments were damaged beyond repair by the rain, but the savior decided it would be better to leave those intact to spare herself from an already awkward confrontation.  
Not that it really mattered at this rate. The little voice deep inside her pessimistic soul screamed that perhaps this little accident was the fallen queen's final bow.

_No_, she refused to entertain those thoughts. She was the Savior and would be damned if she allowed the mother of her son to die here. Not like _this_. Certainly the Evil Queen that had weathered countless bouts of abuse, torture, and dark curses couldn't become one with death due to a simple thunderstorm.

She stripped her own bed of all blankets and sheets, wrapping them tightly around the freezing bundle that was Regina. Frantically, she checked for a pulse. It was weak, but present nonetheless. Breathing a sigh of relief, she struggled to remember the proper treatment for a person suffering with hypothermia.

_Screw logical thinking_, she finally decided after racking her brain and biting her nails down to the quick. She just needed more heat. It was getting unbearably cold for herself, even. Her little rendezvous in the storm searching for Regina had left her almost as drenched as her counterpart.

Then, like a light bulb flickering to life, it became clear what she would have no other choice to somehow accomplish.

Of course. **_Magic._**

Emma had _magic._

_Okay, focus.._

Who was she trying to protect? The mother of her son. Why was she protecting her? Because she's the Savior and even Evil Queens deserve to be saved, no matter how stupid they are for going out in the rain when it's below freezing. Because she actually enjoyed how Regina challenged her and would damn sure miss the living hell out of her if something bad happened. Because she had already lost one person that week.

Because she was her only hope. Henry couldn't be saved without his mother there to help. He'd never be the same again without her.

None of them would be.

As some makeshift source of comfort, seeking sanity's anchor, she grasped the cold hand peeking out from behind the blanket.  
Almost immediately after her fingertips graced Regina's icy palm, Emma felt the jolt of scorching heat enveloping her chest. Her eyes snapped shut as bright white stars danced like static beneath her trembling eyelids. Her palms tingled as if on fire while she began to become aware of some kind of raw, unsatisfiable energy flowing from deep inside of her body in a place that she could not quite locate.  
It felt as though she was destroying the fail safe all over again. Protecting her life. Her new life. The family she had discovered after wishing wholeheartedly to never be alone.

She was feeling much better now, finally remembering how to breathe again. The warmth that her magic was emitting stilled her own shaky limbs and caused the freezing water droplets coating her clothing to practically boil over and evaporate. Tentatively, she opened her eyes. She immediately noticed the healthy glow that was already finding its way back to Regina's face. Her lips were fading from the harsh hue of purple into their regular rosy-pink. In her state of mild undress, Emma was eternally grateful that the outburst of powerful magic hadn't woken her.

_You know, a nice, fuzzy robe would be kind of appropriate.._

She barely felt the flutter of her inner-magic agree with her as a fluffy terrycloth robe found its way into her waiting lap. Carefully, she eased Regina up and covered her with it, managing to tie the front in a secured bow.  
Her chest was rising and falling relatively normally now. Emma could barely hear the gentle puffs of air being released as she slept, blissfully unaware of the horror that had just mere moments ago almost taken her away from them.  
Yet, something didn't feel right as she busied herself by adjusting the blankets around the sleeping silhouette.  
She felt a sixth sense lingering in her mind. It was almost as if...

_Her magic._

Something had changed.

Saving Regina had to have flipped a switch or something.

So how was she going to test that theory?

It had to be at least one in the morning. Emma was exhausted, but she refused to let Regina out of her sight for the rest of the night. She needed a stimulant to keep herself awake.

Was it even possible to magically conjure a cup of coffee?

No harm in trying. It was going to be a long night regardless.

Grasping Regina's hand again for support, since her magic seemed to be better controlled that way for whatever the reason, she tried her best to imagine a steaming cup of coffee that could only be bought from Granny's. At an instant, her hand felt as if it had been pressed to a hot stove. In reality, it was just the burning heat of the liquid that filled the ceramic cup now resting comfortably in her waiting hand.

* * *

Sleeping beauty awoke soon after, due to the fact that the menagerie of warm blankets draped around her torso were causing her body temperature to rise to a level that was too scorching for comfort. Emma's genius coffee plan had failed to combat her exhaustion, and she was now sprawled out on the cabin floor, magical mug barely touched. It was the familiar smell of the coffee that had broken her away from her slumber.

For a moment, she tricked herself into believing that she was at home. When she opened her eyes, the entire ordeal would have proven itself to be another vivid nightmare. Any minute now, she'd be further broken out of her post-slumber daze through the beautiful sound of Henry carelessly bounding downstairs in anticipation for breakfast.

It never came; it never would.

She may as well have ripped her own heart out and crushed it to dust.  
As Regina came closer to reality, she found that her mouth and throat were bone-dry, and she felt as if someone had decided to place her inside of a burning stove. Now that she was nearing the edge of coherency, the brunette found that remembering what time she went to bed was proving to be a great challenge in itself.

Come to think of it, she didn't even remember coming to their sleeping quarters at all last night. She was having an extreme memory lapse. This was unusual, startling even. Regina had been able to retain a perfect memory for the past twenty eight years thanks to the curse. In general, she was a woman that never forgot things. She was so anal about every detail and never ceased her mindful attitude towards everything- from work, her child, to her simple daily habits such as when she went to bed and what time she had breakfast the day prior.

Apparently during some unknown hour, someone had stripped her down to her undergarments and wrapped her into piles of blankets as if she were a fragile antique.  
Wait-Was she wearing a robe? Legitimate fear began to creep its way into her mind and anxiety soon took over. She was anything but the type to have panic attacks but a feeling of numbness coupled with a desperate need for air began to wash over her in a harsh wave.

A sharp intake of air and a tiny snort coming from the floor broke her train of thought.

Emma?

Did she pass out somewhere on deck last night? Had Emma Swan been forced to play Savior again?  
Suddenly, flashes of the previous incident flooded into her mind as if a dam had caved in.  
It was all starting to come back to her.

_Everything._


	7. Chapter 7: Circling

**Chapter 7: Circling**

* * *

She had never, not even once in her long, painful existence faced a situation that made her harbor suicidal thoughts.

Perhaps even the embodiment of what once had been representative of pure evil could be vanquished by the love of a child.  
Soon after the closed adoption had taken place, her baby had become the reason she woke up every morning. Just a single glance at his beautiful, sleepy gaze had been enough to do her in for her entire existence. He had instantly given her life meaning. A reason for her to carry on again.

An excuse to at least, for a moment, pretend to be good.  
If he was in fact gone, he would carry whatever was left of herself along with him.

In a sense, he already had.  
Memories of her most recent near-death experience had begun to flood their way back the longer she concentrated and allowed her fatigued body to wake up. It didn't take long for her to smell it.

That potent, unmistakable scent had practically cemented itself into her memory. She'd know that perfume anywhere.

_Magic_.

Powerful magic, at that.

Specifically, Emma's magic.

How many times has the woman saved her now? Five? Six?

But using magic? At her level of training, if you could even call it that, she would be surprised if Emma could so much light a match without her assistance. It had taken multitudes of concentration and coaxing just to have her work up the nerve to burn a small piece of paper.

Now she was passed out on the cold floor, no doubt exhausted having exerted so much energy to save her roommate.  
Regina was conflicted. She knew that she should do something for her- anything, really, as a gesture of gratitude for saving her life.  
Still, the brunette was in part what one would call embarrassed. Her childish, unthinking behavior had not been unlike a mere child's. It truthfully could have caused both women to become severely injured, or perhaps even lose their lives.

Who would have saved Henry then?

Only the gods would have known, what with the two idiots failing to prove themselves useful during the entire week they had spent on board paired with Hook and Gold's incessant threatening and bickering.

It made Regina wish that they had gone with the original plan of using magic to transport themselves straight to Henry. Gold had immediately protested; however, stating that whoever held him captive held technology powerful enough to sense if magic had been used near them. It was imperative that they approach the captors with extreme caution. The last thing any of them desired was for Henry to be taken through a portal again, for this time they would truly have no possible way to retrieve him. Lying low was their best bet. Deep down she knew, if they failed there would be no hope.

A low whimper coming from the other side of the room startled her out of her thoughts. Even in the low-light, she could tell that Emma was practically freezing. Her lean shoulders were trembling violently as her body fought to stay below the brink of consciousness.

Tentatively, Regina rose from her cocoon of warmth, grabbing several blankets and a pillow. Handling the shaky frame with intense care, she gently lifted Emma by the shoulders and rested her head on the pillow. As she turned away to grab the blankets, the silhouette behind her began to stir.

Thankfully, after a few moments that had Regina holding her breath, the movement ceased and was replaced by rhythmic huffs that indicated she was once again dead to the world. It was only after she had fashioned the blankets comfortably around the sleeping woman did she notice how different, so strikingly innocent, she looked when she was unconscious.

She sat in momentary awe, observing the subtle hints of Henry that peppered his birth mother's striking features. She noticed the shape of his nose, the way his mouth turned down in a curve when he was relaxed, the arch of his eyebrows... All echoed blatantly throughout the facial features of Emma Swan.

As whole-heartedly as she would have denied it earlier, she had finally come to terms with the fact that the infuriating young lady was his mother.

But she would never be able to understand why she did it. The unthinkable. If her former, far more evil self could have seen her actions, she would have turned up her nose in disgust. Laughed, even. Mocked her for her blatant expression of what could only be described as weakness. It didn't matter presently, though. If ever the need be, it could be excused as a post-hypothermic fit that had momentarily clouded her judgment.  
Still, there was no denying her actions when Regina leaned down and ever so slightly brushed her lips over the sleeping blonde's cheek.

It was an innocent gesture, the least she could have done for the woman that had just practically sacrificed herself to the elements to save her life. All the same, the fact that her actions mimicked the treatment she had given her own son after countless bouts with unpleasant nightmares was not completely lost among her fleeting thoughts.

After a few more moments of holding her breath and praying the Savior hadn't been awoken by her mindless gesture, she finally opted to retreat back to her bed and attempt to sleep through the night.

* * *

Whatever peculiar sound had awoken her, Emma Swan would never know the details. She had been out like a light.

_'Shit'_, she cursed inwardly as she moved to get up from her place on the floor.

_What?_

Someone had placed several blankets over her and provided a pillow for her to rest her head...  
Regina.

So she had been up since the accident. If it could even be called that. She decided that she needed answers, stat. Whatever had prompted the brunette's reckless behavior could not wait to be explained in the morning, where other curious ears would no doubt be lingering.

As she neared the bed, she came to realize that the figure sleeping within it was very much awake and aware. Slender, olive-toned shoulders shook with silent sobs that proved to Emma that their culprit was trying her hardest to hold them within.  
She couldn't have cared less if she was tossed off deck for it, so she tentatively placed her hand on Regina's shoulder and sat down beside her.

"Regina... Are you-", she didn't have time to even finish her sentence before her counterpart erupted into a fit of earth-shattering sobs.

'Oh god.. What do I do?', Emma's mind was screaming behind her confliction.

"_Shhh, shhh..._ It's okay. You're okay.", she was still perched awkwardly beside the sobbing figure. Making her first move, she outstretched her hand and placed it gingerly on Regina's quivering back. As she began to rub soothing circles, sobs stifled down into soft sniffles and small gasps as their source regained her composure.

"Do you want to talk about it?", Emma asked so quietly it was a miracle anyone had heard.

A long moment dragged by and had her assuming Regina had once again dozed off into oblivion. It had been foolish to suggest they speak about it as if they were friends. More likely than anything, the only emotion the older woman felt for Emma was an intense loathing and sense of rivalry due to their shared son.

She nearly fell off of the bed when a small voice enveloped the room.

"I'm afraid," Regina struggled to speak due to her shoulders still vibrating with the tremors from the aftershock caused by the crippling intensity of her own sobbing,

"That Henry won't ever love me again. Not in the way that he already loves you."

Emma almost choked out a bitter laugh at that ridiculous statement. _Seriously?_ She could barely make the kid a sandwich without screwing everything up. Without bothering to care about the consequences, she placed a hand on the woman's shoulder and was pleased when it wasn't batted away.

"You're kidding me, right? I mean, if this is some kind of sarcastic attempt at knocking my parental ability then..."  
Regina just stared blankly at her with blearily tired eyes, as if she didn't comprehend her suggestion at all.

"Look, Regina, I may be Henry's birth mother; I might be the Savior. He may have figured it out himself that you were the Evil Queen," she watched as the brunette flinched at the title,

"But none of that will ever change the fact that you were the one that raised him for ten years while I was off getting myself into more trouble than I will ever be worth. He may view me as the hero of the story, but I promise you this... When he looks at you, no matter how hard he will deny it, he only sees the mother that cared for him when he was sick and kissed his tears away when he was upset. The one that loved him and gave him more than his own birth mother could have ever dreamed of. That upsets him; he wants to hate you but he just... can't. Besides, when you saved us at the mines, he saw something in you. He saw the good in you. Regina, you just have to give him more time."

She sat motionless, almost as if she were processing Emma's words. Finally, after what seemed like a decade of silence, she managed a feeble reply,  
"He was supposed to be my happy ending."

Emma said the first thing that came to mind. She spoke the words, not realizing the possible meanings they could offer to the eager listener.

"What if it's more than that? What if he was supposed to bring it to you?"  
Luckily Regina didn't seem phased by what the statement could have implied, so she continued, "My... family, they see it in you, too. You are a good person, Regina. I believe more than anyone that you can change. You just have to show them the person that raised Henry. I know she was a good person, as well as I know that he loves that woman more than anyone in the world."  
Her eyes notably softened at the mention of Henry's love for her, yet hardened all the same at the implication of rectifying her feud with his grandparents.

"Ah, yes, I'm sure your 'Charming' little family would love to better acquaint themselves with their Evil Queen," she practically hissed, no doubt finally finding her sharp tongue again after her moment of emotional distress,

"Perhaps we should have engaged in this familial union a little earlier in the game, though. Preferably before your mother decided it was okay to kill my own."

The woman was incorrigible.

This entire family tree was some fucked-up, endless blood feud. Sitting beside her was the very same woman that had her youth stolen from her by the grips of her son's grandfather. Emma's own mother had a hand in that, even if unknowingly at the time. Regina had also tried to end them all, yet she had saved them time and time again. It seemed as if when one side made a move to settle the score, another took something away that threw off the impending balance.

They were stumbling in circles. Regina was chasing her redemption, yet the middlemen in her life kept shoving her into foxholes that were inescapable lest another pay the price that would knock her back to square one again.

"She also saved your life. All because she knows you are family. She's accepted it, whether she will admit it or not..." And it was true. No matter what Regina had put them through, Snow would always be unable to bring herself to take Regina's life. Reason being, she was family.

Henry's _mother._

That alone had become her lifeline, paired with the knowledge that Snow's pure heart would be unwilling to destroy what was once as untainted as itself.

"Miss Swan, you seem to misunderstand my purposes for coming along on this journey," the usual, snarky bite to her words was back in full-swing, "Playing 'happy family' with you and your lovely parents is the last thing on my mind. I just want to get my son and continue to live in peace, thank you."

"You mean the life you fabricated right? Honestly, Regina, I don't think we can ever live there again. I mean, going to the Enchanted Forest wasn't exactly sounding great to me at first, what with my memories of it," she sighed, remembering how relieved she was to emerge from the well. She had shared a genuine smile with Regina. She had risked her life to save Snow and Emma that day.  
It was all for Henry, Emma chastised herself for pretending that she could feel obligated to save her for any other reason.

"What I mean is, if there are other people like psycho-bitch Tamara tracking us down we need to get everyone the hell out of there before we end up being someone's science experiment."  
Paired with the overpowering concern for the well-being her son, Emma also worried incessantly for her friends and family back home. Of course, trusted Belle whole-heartedly to do a sufficient job running the town, but it was very discouraging to imagine how things were holding up when the main means of security that held the town together were on a boat in a faraway realm.

"Yes, and where will I end up in the midst of this endeavor? Rotting in a cell, as if I were a rat, like your parents so kindly suggested? Will I be reduced to begging on my knees to receive a mere moment's visitation with my own son?"

Imagining Regina, the literal queen of entitlement and privilege, locked up in a filthy dungeon almost made her laugh due to the harsh contrast until she remembered the flashes from her past.

No wonder she had destroyed the beans. Being locked under a dark, cold castle again would no doubt bring back countless painful memories from her abusive past with her former husband.

"Come on, you know I would never let them do that to you.. But we have to leave Storybrooke, Regina. It's over... The curse is gone. We broke it."

Surely Regina hadn't intended that they return to their prior roles as if nothing happened. In all honesty, Emma wouldn't have objected if given the chance to choose what she truly desired. As far as she was concerned, home was located in Storybrooke, Maine. Could she ever bring herself to adjust to living with her new found family in another realm?

In land without technology, cars, and regular, old-fashioned people?

Regina herself knew that once they saved Henry it was game over. Her final ploy to gain happiness had plummeted out of her grasp.  
It was true, she had saved the entire town from the clutches of destruction. But hadn't she been the one to make the initial move towards that fate in the first place?

"We did nothing, Miss Swan. It was you that broke my curse, with your incessant need to meddle amongst places you have no business venturing through."

Was she really suggesting that Emma didn't belong with her own family?

"Regina, you know that's bullshit. I had to break the curse. You should know as well as I do, Henry would have died. And if your plan had worked, putting myself in his place..."

'Who would have been the one to save you?', she finished in her thoughts.

"You wouldn't have died. It was a sleeping curse," she sounded as if she was feeling regret for her actions, her true feelings breaking through the thin mask of carelessness the woman so often wore.

"I know that. But you did it because you knew I would never have anyone that loved me enough to wake me up."  
Silence.

Regina seemed as if she had either run out of things to say or, perhaps, felt a pang of guilt at the Savior's implication.

No, it wasn't that at all.

Emma had been given everything Regina had ever wanted, after merely a few days spent in town.

Everyone adored her. Even with the curse in place, after memories were wiped clean, the town still regarded its mayor as an outsider.

Even Rumpelstiltskin's most powerful curse couldn't make them love her. The warm, loving heart of the man she had cared for most ended up yielding her no remaining love in return.

Did Emma truly believe no one would have loved her enough to kiss her back to consciousness?

Was she truly that naive?

Or perhaps just as broken as Regina herself had turned out to be.

She would have let herself brood over those thoughts for the next hour-upon-hour, had she not been soothed back to sleep by the calming voice that rang out for the last time that night.

"Regina, look, I'm sorry. I don't want to fight anymore. We should move past this. I won't let them hurt you. It will work out, I promise. Henry belongs to you. _Always has_."

* * *

The hour the flimsy door to their cabin swung open was ungodly to say the least. A pixie-haired brunette sauntered quietly over to a heavily rested blonde and nudged her lightly.

"Emma, honey, wake up. It's time for us to get off of the ship. Henry's waiting."  
At the mention of her son's name, her eyes violently swung open, ignoring her mother and instead falling on Regina's still-unconscious form. Snow gracefully took her leave, not even bothering to spare the remaining person in the room a second glance.

It was in that moment, when she practically catapulted herself to Regina's side, applying a slight pressure to one of her shoulders with a light-handed touch.

It only took one word.

The minute _'Henry'_ left her lips, her eyes snapped open as she scrambled furiously to get dressed.  
It was about to happen.

The moment they had been anticipating for nearly two weeks.

Make it work and save the day. or break down completely...

They were going to find Henry and get him back, once and for all.

* * *

**_A/N:_**_ Hehe.. Thanks for bearing with me, lovely readers. It's about to go DOWN in the next few chapters._

_Be excited!_


	8. Chapter 8: Saving Henry

**Chapter 8: Saving Henry  
**

* * *

It felt as though the group of restless adults were navigating through the dimly lit land in slow-motion.

It was nearly surreal; they had finally managed to arrive in Neverland.

Henry was so close to them, it seemed as if they were in a dream. Both mothers could feel his closeness, as if their magic had already shot out from their chests and claimed him, waiting patiently for its hosts' bodies to play catch-up.

Doomed to confinement, it remained a dormant prisoner. There would be no using magic, at least not yet, for it would only give their cover away.

Gold had all but vanished as soon as they came upon the desolate landlocked island, declaring that he had 'personal business' to settle with a certain shadowy creature lurking through those parts. To their surprise, Hook had followed behind him closely, as if they were allies and not sworn adversaries.

Emma had put two and two together, and she verbally assumed that it had something to do with Neal. It was amazing, she thought. Hook and Gold, bonding over a man that they both viewed as someone who had once been a son-like figure.

She couldn't help but think about her relationship with Regina, and how the situations seemed to link in a way. Two women, at constant odds, fighting over a boy who had only ended up bringing them together. Repeatedly.

And so, then there were four. The two idiots, whom Regina feared would end up lacking the competence that would allow them to keep quiet, as they scavenged the dark, dreary grounds of the headquarters that surely housed her son.

_At least I have Miss Swan_, she thought. The two of them combined usually proved useful in times such as these.

As much as she hated to admit it, and she would have never declared it openly, the time spent with Emma on the ship hadn't been all too dreadful.  
Once again, the Savior had managed to save her from her very own careless mistakes. Without Emma, where would she have ended up? Certainly not in the arms of Snow White. She would have her own head served on a silver platter before she stooped that low.

She had comforted her in a time of vulnerability and seen it through her own perspective. Emma was the only one on earth now that carried a piece of the pain she had once endured in another land.

And she had relived some of Emma's past as well.

They understood each other in such deep, complicated ways that it honestly scared Regina.  
She couldn't stop herself from remembering Gold's not-so-vague insinuations that took place soon after they had started the voyage.

If his words held merit, she and Emma were destined.  
The thing that scared Regina the most is that, if told this information decades ago, she would have most likely used that information to her advantage. Used it as some sort if tool to hurt Emma's parents, even.

Now, she did nothing. Refusing to tell a soul and wouldn't allow herself to entertain that claim at all.

Oh, but deep down in her soul something cried for it to be true.

Such a large part of her hidden goodness ached to feel love once again.

* * *

Their son's captors were no doubt located in the dark, isolated castle, whose grounds were about to be searched upside-down by none other than the Charming clan and herself.

Little did they know, the captor's presumed ally, Hook, had decided to play on the right team this time around.

If the group's hunch was correct, Tamara and Greg shouldn't have the nearest idea of where exactly they were located.

But they would find out soon enough.

Certainly they wouldn't catch on to the fact that the very clearing in which they were gathered was mere minutes of walking distance from where they resided with Henry.  
Emma, having still retained a free-reign over her inner magic, was being what one could have labeled as 'overconfident' with her ability.

As Regina had expected, she was a natural. Unlike her own magic, Emma's magic was a large part of her soul. Such power so tightly bound and engraved in a person's conscious was far easier to reign in and control compared to magic instilled by foreign sources.  
Thus why Cora was unable to remove her heart. Her magic was so tightly bound to her soul that it provided her with constant protection.

"I think we should split up into two's. That way we can cover ground faster," she explained.  
She had a fair point. Pairing up would provide them with a slightly higher advantage over the enemy. Regina only protested because she saw where the blonde was going with the plan before the others could put the pieces together.

"Wait a minute, you and I, we don't even have weapons," she began, "You can't honestly expect me to..."

She merely glanced at Snow, who glared at her, making it known that she was as opposed to the notion as herself.

It was a decent strategy, but in theory alone.

Yes, David had a sword and his wife had her trusty bow. Both of them were very skilled with physical weaponry, yet this was an operation that required someone with a stealthy magical ability.

It was only fitting that each group had a person with that capability on their side.  
Their enemies were probably expecting Regina and Emma to be on the same team, anyhow. It was best to throw them off in every way that they possibly could manage.

That being the main reason, and that Emma needed David's strength and expert swordsmanship to hold Tamara down while she beat the living shit out of her.

The thing bothering Regina the most was the aspect of being utterly alone with Snow White for an ungodly amount of time. After fishing for a proper adjective to describe her presence, she settled on reductive.

Yes, it would be better if they did stay separated.

With the way their magic had begun to interact on the voyage in mind, she was unsure if she could resist the urges that came with being in the vicinity of that potency much longer.

_Potent._

That was an understatement.

She had read of the mysterious power of True Love magic in her mother's spell books many times. The prospect of it had fascinated her. Taking the words to heart, she had comforted herself in times of distress as a young child and used the knowledge as a calming mantra.  
'True Love is magic.'

Something had drawn her to Emma from the start.

At first, she had passed the boiling feeling off as merely hatred. The blonde had practically waltzed into town, arm-in-arm with her son. She had presumably destroyed everything Regina had worked to destroy.

Yet, deep down, she couldn't blame Emma for that. She had an understanding, even more so now, of what the young woman had been through. A life of abandonment and isolation could do no good for the sanity of someone's heart.

And yet Emma had managed to stay pure and true. Regina envied that. What she refused to admit was that she wanted an influence of that nature to be present in her life, somehow. She held a fear of rejection.

A fear so crippling that it scared her, for how could the purest heart of all love the Evil Queen?  
That wavering emotion alone was enough to persuade her voice to reappear.

"I agree, actually. She's right. Snow and I, we can search the eastern portion of the castle, and David shall go with Emma to explore the west," she began, "And we can work our way around from there."

It was Emma's turn now to show signs of hesitation. She began to feel wary of leaving them, almost fearing the possibility of abandonment.

What would happen if they were caught, and one of them used some kind of device to shut down Regina's magic again?

She wouldn't entertain those thoughts anymore.

Staying positively optimistic would be the only way to manage her composure. It was important to keep the nerves at bay; she needed to be in her best state-of-mind if they were here to save her son.

Taking another look at the huge building they were about to stealthily maneuver through, she felt her mouth go dry and palms twitch with a nervous tremor.

She had never seen a building so large in her life. They would have better luck solving a complex labyrinth, for navigating the large mass before them was sure to be a game of finding the needle in the haystack.

Shooting Regina a questioning glance, she tried to get a feel for what she was really thinking. Surely she had to be as nervous as the rest of them?

As their eyes met, both women knew without verbalizing the words, that they would find what they were searching for.

* * *

Surely some hours had passed, and the two women stalking the corridors had remained fruitless in their efforts. Regina hadn't put her magical ability to much use other than allowing a small orb emitting from her palm to illuminate the pathway of the route that she and Snow had decided on. Realistically, Regina had all-but demanded that the other woman cooperate without so much tilting her head to question an opposing opinion.

_Snow White._

Regina thanked her lucky stars that the young girl had never been much of a conversation starter.

The palace that they were exploring seemed as though it was virtually deserted, however.

Her heart jumped at the thought of Gold perhaps making a miscalculation. Or maybe they knew that their hiding place had been discovered and hopped a portal out of harm's way. Or perhaps, and this scared her more than anything in the world, maybe it was all just a sick, twisted game of cat and mouse. All leading up to a room where they would finally find her baby, cold and lifeless, as some kind of sick attempt at what the cruel man behind it all claimed was poetic justice.

She gritted her teeth as her eyes started to betray her by stinging with the presence of hot tears.  
No. She wouldn't succumb to such emotions. Not when they were so close.  
There would be no giving up.

"Snow!", a voice cried out from a distance, startling both herself and her silent counterpart.  
It was David. Sword swinging by his side haphazardly as he bounded over to his confused wife.

"Where is Emma?", she heard Snow question. Regina wanted to know the same.  
He shot them an expression mixed with confusion and borderline terror.

"She told me to keep checking the areas behind her while she met back up with you two. She thinks she found where they are keeping him, she just wanted to be sure," he looked at both women with a wary difficulty, "If she's not with you... I mean, I thought..."

If the squeak that escaped Snow's mouth was her trying to respond, Regina couldn't hear it over the roaring of the blood rushing to her head. She was enraged, and completely baffled by the ignorance of the much beloved Charmings.

Of course she shouldn't have trusted her former enemies to hold any competence in this situation. They were "good", she couldn't, shouldn't have expected them to hold prowess to sneaking around.

And now their daughter and the birth mother of Regina's own son would suffer.  
Henry's suffering was always reflected in her own.

As heartless as she painted herself out to be, it made her feel an extreme emotion that, in a different state of mind, she would have picked up on and analyzed as sorrow.

But sorrow always faded to anger in her world.

At this point, anger had tinted her world red. She was seething.

"You two are so caught up in yourselves that you have, yet again, managed to neglect your own daughter," she began before Snow cut her off, ignoring the obvious jabs. They had no spare time to waste on fighting.

"You just left her to fend for herself? David, how could you?!" Regina froze as she began to distance herself from the bickering of the two idiots.

She heard something else, something fairly far away in distance.

Talking?

No, it couldn't be. They were in complete darkness and had reached a dead-end. If anyone was around, it would be easier to detect their whereabouts.

This was far away.

Whatever it was hit her again, altering her emotions to an odd degree.

A wave of extreme sadness washed over her.

As if someone flipped an invisible switch, she realized what she had been hearing.

A scream.

It was so agonizingly drawn out that it seemed to reverberate in Regina's own chest, hard and fast. She had to choke back her own sob, for she knew the tone of that voice too well.

_It was Emma..._

* * *

She had been stupid.

Well, stupid was the understatement of the century in this case. Maybe the Savior thing had gotten to her head, who really knows?  
She had planned on meeting up with the rest of the group, formulating some other kind of plan for action.

That had all gone to hell when she had begun to hear hushed voices and footsteps coming from above her standpoint.

And she hadn't even given a moment's thought as to what the repercussions would be if she merely followed her instincts.

The muffled mumble she had caught onto was most definitely her son. Hope swelled in her chest at the thought of finally being reunited with him again.

And it was in fact him, she had learned, as the deathtrap she had waltzed into came into focus.  
He was just the bait.

She tried to fight, tried to use magic, to no avail. In lieu of assuring Henry's safety, as he was bound and gagged, the fact Tamara was behind her waiting to cuff her wrist had been beyond her sense of awareness.

They were going to make her into their living, breathing test subject.

Apparently, she learned from Tamara's statements, their boss had instructed them to keep a watchful eye on Emma for a while. She and Henry breaking the curse had caught the entire organization's attention. It made sense now. Why Tamara was so dead-set on getting involved with Neal. Anything to get closer to Emma, who held the ultimate power that so many just like herself had coveted.

Emma, the product of the purest True Love.

They were merely using her as an object. Testing her every limit. Trying to see exactly how long it would take until her body gave into its exhaustion.

And now she, along with whatever power had once run through her veins, was slowly dying.

They had her strapped down now, to a large, buzzing machine.

It had to be the same one that they used on Regina.

And _god _did it _hurt_...

Her veins were on fire, her neck shooting upwards every time they increased the voltage rate on the machine... If, by any chance, she managed to escape this, she would surely need months of prescription painkillers, assuming her body's rapid, unsolicited movements didn't wind up severing her spinal cord.

If she was screaming by now, then her ears must have given up on interpreting sound. She kept herself sane by focusing on the fact that Henry had managed to escape during the struggle involving her captor's attempt to restrain her to the cold, metal table.

_Regina would find him..._

She would finally get her happy ending.

Snow and David? Her own parents?

They would move on, in love again and bodies frozen in their prime of youth. It was a perfect opportunity to pick off where they had last left off.

Actually raise a child.

And Regina's fate?

She held no doubts that Regina would make it her lifeblood's worth to make him feel safe and loved for the rest of eternity. Hell, at this point, she actually _hoped _the woman used some sort of spell to make him forget that she ever existed. He was young, and he had someone willing to help him heal.

Maybe this would be her chance to rekindle the broken relationship with her son. The woman that had raised him and loved him for ten odd years could finally reconnect the bonds that Emma's rather impromptu arrival in Storybrooke had loosened and nearly broken.

Yes, Emma was the Savior.

_But in this case she could never save herself._


	9. Chapter 9: Epiphany

**Chapter 9: Epiphany**

* * *

The sensation was like being ripped free from the dream-like reverie that comes with being treated delicately with anesthetic. Except Emma Swan wasn't coming back to an operating room; she had awoken just in time to bear witness to the end of a terrible nightmare.  
She couldn't remember how she got there, only suddenly becoming aware of the searing pain that radiated through her upper proximity, especially in her neck and shoulders. Her mouth felt like dry like cotton. She swallowed, finally, only to taste a metallic flavor that caused her stomach to lurch.

The person hovering over her protectively must have sensed the movement. She felt delicate hand slowly caressing her cheek as another brushed back her hair. It was such a gentle sensation, so soothing that Emma felt herself being slowly lulled to sleep. Teetering halfway on the brink of consciousness, she felt droplets of something... almost like rain, falling onto her neck.  
Emma desired it. Rain had the power to douse the fire that had filled her veins only moments before she had blacked out. She had prayed for death in those moments.

For death was, in this circumstance, easier than pain.

If she gave in, if she passed on... maybe they would finally gain what they were trying to rip away from her. She didn't want magic. She never asked for it to be a part of her.

Magic was fictional from where she had come from.

Emma had never even believed in such a silly concept. It was part of a fairytale. Yet, as had been proven to her by Henry himself, her whole existence revolved around stories that she had once believed to be purely imaginary. It had been a dream of hers, growing up in the foster home, all the while being shuffled from family-to-family. She could recall vividly all of the instances that led her to reading through battered copies of tales telling news of faraway lands filled with princesses, love, and adventure.

Fictional places had been her only source of sanity... Until, that is, she found a man that she believed to be her happy ending. Sadly, he had fallen out to be nothing but a coward. She tried to shake the grudge from her being, yet she just didn't have it in her heart. For Neal was dead, and she was soon to follow. At least that's how the cards looked from her current position.

She writhed violently, gasping and choking for air. Speckles of ultraviolet light danced circling around her in slow-motion, yet she had been sure her eyes were closed.

It was impossible to differentiate anything now. There was no clarity, only bleak reality.

A feeling that would be best described as ice running through tight veins settled over her entire form until she was sure that her body, wherever it resided, was shivering and convulsing. She wanted to scream, grit her teeth somehow, perhaps tell someone, anyone, to end the agonizing pain.

To let it go and take mercy on her tired soul.

Instead of letting go, a smaller part of consciousness was persuading her to hold on to keep feeling the warm sensation caressing her face and neck. It was intoxicating...  
She longed to lean into it, and let it fill her entire being until the sensation smothered her into instantaneous death by pleasure.

Yet Emma knew that she was already on the fast track towards slipping away into something far less accommodating to that wish. Though she felt reluctant and even sad to say farewell to the pleasant warmth, she knew that it was past time to let go.  
And so she allowed herself to fall into the numbness that had been fighting to claim its next victim.

* * *

She didn't notice the pressure being applied softly to her hands as the woman who knelt beside her protectively held them. It was such a loving gesture, something that would not have passed by without a raise of brows, had anyone been watching the tender exchange. Truthfully, if Emma had been watching, it never would have happened.

Love was weakness. She could not show weakness. _Never._

Yes, Emma Swan would live the rest of her days, never able to claim memory of the careful, dainty fingers that danced their way over her face, wiping it clean of both of the women's shed tears. The mystery woman had made a game of it, almost. As if she had been waiting her whole life for that moment. The chance to touch the Savior, without being judged.

A chance to save her, _heal_ her, even.

Except Regina feared that Emma was far too gone to be saved, thus her tears fell unabashedly.  
They had tortured Emma far longer than she herself. This time, Greg and Tamara had been out for magic, not information.

Then, they wanted to dispose of her as if she were mere garbage.

As if her magic was the only endearing quality. As if her presence in the world meant nothing to anyone.

Regina held her close, crying tears of empathy... and something more that she hadn't felt resurface since the fateful day in the stables with her mother.  
She still cried belated tears for Henry, who had taken Emma's condition as a viable excuse to take off running for his grandparent's aid. Before doing so; however, he had practically attacked her in the most powerful of hugs that she had ever been blessed to experience. And when he proclaimed just how much he loved and missed her, voice breaking in the process, Regina had to remind herself how to breathe again.

Then, of course, he proceeded to beg her through heated tears to save his birth mother. She had accepted his pleas almost too quickly, not like he needed confirmation, for she had subconsciously bolted straight for Emma as soon as she had entered.

She knew her fair share of healing magic, having studied her mother's old spell books for days on end. In her younger days, a little basic techniques up your sleeve was always a plus when dealing with wounded horses. This would be much different, though. Yes, the Blue Fairy had managed to heal herself after being tortured..

And she was a thousand times more the magical prowess than Blue had ever proved herself to have been.

Still, it had been intimidating diving in headfirst and under pressure. She hadn't exactly anticipated the possibility of having to save the savior. Though she should have known, what with Emma's idiot, farmboy of a father gallivanting from afar, no doubt neglecting his own daughter. He must have realized already that she was eons more intelligent than he, but she digressed...

She had done all that she had known to do...  
For once, she allowed herself to feel the pain of another less aware. With a heavy heart, she had knelt beside the Savior and used her magic for good. Her younger self would have applauded at the sight.

For instead of using her powers to tear life away, she was giving it.  
Truly, she began to feel more and more at ease with herself. Given the intensity of the situation, that should have been a red flag.

But no, it was just the two of them.

It pleased her almost, to watch Emma's paled skin slowly regain it's standard healthy glow. Knowing that her magic was causing regrowth rather than destruction as it swirled in and out of its target's body.

Her breathing grew shallow, for she couldn't miss how Emma's magic practically sought out her own. Yes, the woman may have been knocked out cold from exhaustion, but there was no mistaking the heavy musk scent that was her magic.

Just as she had anticipated, Emma's breathing was beginning to labor at a steady, even rate once again.

She was stable.

An innocent passerby would assume she was only sleeping.  
For but a moment, Regina swore the woman's eyelashes twitched. The slight movement sent a flutter through her own chest.

Excitement.

She couldn't wait for those ever-changing, hues of emerald-blue eyes to show themselves once again. So maybe, just maybe, Regina would gain the chance to decide just what color they truly were.

No amount of hopeful musing could stifle the feeling in her stomach.

She felt it rolling in all at once.  
First in her heart, aching and relentless. Then in her mind, the feeling claiming its name.  
Identifying itself at last.

There was no denying it now.

Regina Mills was beginning to fall in love with Emma Swan.

* * *

_As soon as the telling sounds of footsteps filled the empty surrounding corridor, Regina knew she had nearly overstayed her vigil. _  
_Snow and Charming bolted barbarically through the entrance, practically catapulting into the very place she herself had occupied moments before. Henry followed closely behind, eyes instantly brightening when he saw his birth mother's improved form, courtesy of Regina's own magical handiwork. _

_Saying thank you in the only way he knew how, he ran to her and threw his arms around her neck. It reminded her so much of his early childhood- she could have broken down right there._  
_Only when she heard his mumbled 'I love you' did she allow her tears to spill over._

* * *

"Mom!" A hope-filled, achingly familiar voice rang out. Emma struggled to adjust her eyes, having to wait out the bleariness for a lengthy moment.

Then, eyes adjusted fully to the chamber's outlines and shadows, she saw them.

Her family.

Henry was clinging to Regina like a moth to a flame. From the adoring, yet somber expression etched on her face, Emma knew that she didn't mind one bit. She understood that her son's mother didn't receive that affection much anymore. It had been a long time since she herself had, in fact. Still, Emma had to do all that she could not to gape in awe; she had never seen Regina look so... at peace before. Relieved, even.

_Happy_.

Her eyes were puffy and red, obviously swollen from crying. Still, she maintained her standard regal stance that came hand-in-hand with her persona. Some things, even after the peak of disaster, thankfully never changed.

She was crouched down at eye-level with him, in deep conversation. The look of purest love in her eyes made Emma's heart lurch. It brought back the memory of what she had desired the most as a child.

A mother that would look at her like that. Like she was the greatest thing in the world. Like she was loved.

She felt herself break into a watery smile, so immersed in the beauty of what lied a few feet away that she failed to notice the two pairs of eyes settled on her.  
For the split second, before they attacked her with an onslaught of hugs, she was able to see that they, her parents, were looking at her just as Regina was looking at Henry.

It was more distant, though. As if they weren't surprised that she had managed to pull through after all.

Suddenly, it hit her.

Nobody ever looked at anyone in the exact way that Regina looked at her son.  
Not with the same heavy mixture of both unspeakable love and pain...  
Because truly, aside from him, who did she love? Who else had ever deserved enough to share the product of everything she had ever worked for, and besides that, every bit of good that she had left?

Emma had an epiphany. She finally understood, something in her gleaming eyes had flipped the switch.

When Regina loved, it was no holds barred.

She had loved, she had lost, she had fought.

These experiences alone had shown her just how precious and fleeting love really was. From her understanding, even True Love couldn't be saved sometimes. Her singular weakness had been love. For when Regina loved, she didn't take hearts. She put her heart in the person's hands. It had been her undoing, the weight of the heavy emotion becoming the catalyst that drove her to cast the Dark Curse that had sent them all to Storybrooke.

Loving someone would mean trusting, with all of her being. Hoping that in the end, they would be able to fix her. So that, maybe, she could be the person that she had been in the past.

Emma felt guilty, almost, when her eyes aligned with the boy in Regina's weakened arms. He broke away from them and scurried over to her, practically knocking her off balance with the force of his hug.

No amount of self-restraint or carefully rehearsed expressions of nonchalance could have masked the hurt etched in Regina's eyes.  
It wasn't fair, her mind offered to its own accord.

Once again, the Charming family reunion had left a broken, shivering Regina watching from the sidelines.

Emma was suffocated.

Yes, she and Regina were polar opposites, indeed. For when the other woman desired to drown and lose herself in the love of many, the Savior did not. Accustomed to loneliness, she found the affection that her parents were lavishing on her to be excruciatingly... bothersome, to say the least.

Basking in Snow's incessant fussing over her haggard appearance, she studied the brunette that was awkwardly shifting in the bleak darkness. She didn't have to be under light for Emma to realize that she was staring. She struggled to find her voice again, wanting to gain enough composure to at least utter an invitation to the mini-reunion.

She had missed Henry dearly. Anyone with a right mind knew that, for fact. From the worry-lines and trembling lips etched on her form, Emma could clearly see that Regina was milliseconds away from a breakdown.

Her own mother, arms still wrapped around her form and holding her steady, began to sense her internal struggling. She was still too groggy to notice that she was practically thrashing, trying to sit up so she could take Henry by the hand and guide him over to his other mother.

Words started spilling out of her lips, yet she couldn't understand her own tongue. Snow seemed to react though. She motioned to one of the figures surrounding her, who then disappeared from Emma's bleary peripheral vision.

Seconds later, she relaxed again. For she smelt the sweet, sinister scent that could only ever belong to one woman.

_Regina._

They had called her over.

The last thing she saw before she drifted off into her private dreams was her son being encased in another devastating hug by his mother.

Yet she swore, just for a moment, that Regina reverted her gaze to her own.

She had even managed a smile.


	10. Chapter 10: Separated

_**A/N**__: I know some of you will wonder how exactly Emma was rescued. Not to worry, that will be covered later on. You will learn everything in time. Sorry for the late update; hope you don't hate me too much. I love you!_

**Chapter 10: Separated  
**

* * *

Just as they had hoped, their plan had worked. Henry was now safe and sound as ever.

Greg and Tamara had been taken down by the Evil Queen herself, in one of her most impressive kills yet.

Single handedly, at that.

Regina thought back to her intense altercation with the very man that tortured her to near-death and smirked through a wave of immense satisfaction. She could still feel the subtle rush at her fingertips, tingle in her palm, the thrill of the kill that had been so suffocatingly present as she had crushed the man's heart to dust.

Still, no feeling could ever give her as much joy as the comforting warmth of the body pressed against her at that very moment.

Henry was adamant on clinging to her for dear life, since his birth mother was still on the mends from her bout with torture and needed rest.

He loved her now, and perhaps now more than ever. She flourished with that feeling. For months she had feared she would never receive it again.  
Regina allowed herself a quick glance at Snow and her family, chest tightening as she considered what exactly would be in store for her when they arrived home to Storybrooke.  
If it could even be called such any longer.. Isolation seemed to be her fate once again.

She remembered the chilling suggestion from David, his plan to lock her in a cell below the palace.

It had sent her into a frenzied panic, for she had been forced to recount the days spent under the torture of Leopold, the man she had been forced to call 'husband'.

She would not be forced to endure that inhumane treatment ever again.

But surely now, they would not subject her to that again. For did she not just save them.. twice?

Perhaps saving Emma was a different story in itself.. Though it was truly the most rewarding.

"Well dearies, it looks like we're in luck. We'll be going home after all," Gold ground out, breaking her from her thoughts in the same revoltingly self-righteous tone that had since the beginning of time been his standard.

They had acquired quite a plethora of magic beans from Tamara and Greg's left over possessions.

Enough, as much as it pained Regina to acknowledge, to perhaps transport everyone directly out of Storybrooke and into the Enchanted Forest.

She noticed the others flinch in her peripheral vision as he brought it crashing to the ground, producing a thick mass of magical energy.

It was her natural instinct to grasp Henry's shoulders and hold him close. He looked rather discouraged, as if the idea of traveling through a portal again so soon scared him.

Emma was on the other side of him, holding on to his hand with such security, surprising considering her condition.

She still looked extremely exhausted, face visibly sunken-in and tinged with the same gray pallor that had hit Regina full force not far too long ago.

The way she leaned into Henry as he gripped her hand showcased how extremely violent her session with Greg and Tamara had actually turned out to be. Her eyes were reddened to an alarming degree, having been concealing her tears from everyone.

No doubt she didn't want to upset Henry in his victory celebration, or worry her parents any further.  
Perhaps she thought that there would be time for grieving when they arrived back home. Or maybe, when that time came, everything would magically fix itself. It would be the perfect life that she had been destined to have.

As always, nothing would be that simple.

Not in Regina's world.

* * *

Something was wrong.

Very, very wrong.  
She felt Henry slipping away. She couldn't hear anyone.

No happy sighs or even relieved murmurs from Snow White in reference to their homecoming. She would have normally resented those, yet they were a sense of normalcy. There was nothing normal about her situation now.

Alarmed now, Regina was unable to open her eyes and found herself surrounded by a violent, purple-tinted haze. Her head pounded furiously, and her body felt like it was being hit by a semi-truck.

_No._

This was not supposed to happen. Portals never took this long, nor did they bring forth such an intense feeling of uncomfortable ache and despair.

No magic ever inflicted this much suffering. Unless, of course, it was a curse.. Cursed magic always came with a heavy price, in which the first phase was always a blinding bout of pain.

For a split second, her heart yearned for Emma, Henry, for someone to make the pain stop.

For death, even.

For her father to pull her into his arms and rock her to sleep, like he did when she was merely a child.

For her mother's smiling face and open arms to envelope her with the love she had felt wash over her on the very day she left the world.

She felt it in her ears, crackling and popping to a painful degree. Her chest constricted as lungs fought for air that simply just would not force its way in.

The sensations ended as quickly as they had begun.

She opened her eyes, seeing just white-light for several seconds until they became readjusted to the scenery that surrounded her.

Regina found that she had returned to a place she was sure would never have visited again judging by the events that took place the last time she had been there.

She was back in the very room in which the curse had been enacted in her palace, twenty-eight years prior.

Naturally, she panicked.

Where was Emma?

Her son?

She needed Emma there, now. Anyone would suffice at this point.. Anything to prove to herself that she hadn't gone crazy. Or worse..

Surveying the room, everything seemed to be in its right place. Her spacious bed was made, the fire that had blazed minutes prior to enacting the curse carried on, and it still had the familiar smell of apples and clean linens. Feeling desperately afraid for her son, she turned to her mirror. For where could he have ended up? Why didn't he arrive with her, for she had been holding on to him for dear life, had she not? Willing it to work with all of her might, she raised a shaky wrist to the glass.

She knew the glass was still enchanted. The only thing different, of course, was the lack of a man trapped behind it. Sidney was still in Storybrooke, which meant she was truly alone unless the others had been dropped out of the portal elsewhere in the Enchanted Forest. To think, it was everything she had yearned for in the past. Her entire kingdom to herself, and here she was pining for the same citizens that had isolated her. Perhaps it was just the panic, or maybe she was just too focused on regaining her son again to meddle with the specifics.

"Show me the others. All of them," she pleaded out loud, mainly to keep herself from breaking down. Her voice was still the same. Hearing it once again made everything feel less like a nightmare.

The glass changed instantly, morphing and rippling like crystallized water until it formed a blurred image of Emma, pacing around a dark corridor, trembling and cursing profusely. Regina recognized where she was at an instant.

_A palace._..

The location of where the wardrobe had been all those years ago.

The Charming family's castle.

But why would that be? If she didn't know any better, it was as if that portal had dumped them back here on purpose. After all, magic beans rarely misfired. In fact, she had never herself even heard of such a thing to happen _ever. _Portal magic was very straightforward, and with her magic prowess dating back for decades, surely it wasn't an error on her end?

She grit her teeth.

_Gold... _Rumpelstiltskin..

Yes, of course he must have had an ulterior motive, or at the least knew something in regards to why she and Emma had been dumped here. Alone, she now concluded. For she had tried another dozen times to check for any signs of Henry using the same method to manipulate the mirror, to no avail.

Which is precisely why she needed Emma this instant. Well, one reason. She wouldn't admit it to herself over her habitual initiative of shutting her care for others out, but Regina was actually very worried for her. From the view the mirror gave her, she looked on the verge of passing out.

Or worse.

She needed care, immediately. That was self-evident. Thankfully, Regina had plans to see that would be exactly what she would receive. She would need all of the strength she could muster for the job coming up.

She and Miss Swan had proven capable of transcending realms, correct?

_'Perhaps'_, Regina concluded silently, '_that power would be enough to somehow use the mirror as a makeshift portal of sorts to go back to Storybrooke...'_

And if not return, at least view the town to make sure all was well. Besides, the two idiots had to be running in circles of panic by now, what with their precious daughter missing.

Mirror travel was never easy, even when traveling to a destination in the same realm. Yes, she knew where Emma was, but she had a blurred memory of how many mirrors resided in her current location.

Finally making the decision to settle for one of the mirrors whose location she was familiar with, she focused her bubbling magic on the glass and felt herself slowly evaporate and seep into the glass.

When her vision refocused, she found herself looking at her reflection. Behind her form was the background location of the dining room of the Charming's castle.

It had worked perfectly, as intended.

* * *

After what had felt like a round of intense one-on-one with a pair of brick walls, Emma Swan hit the floor of her parent's castle with an intensity that would no doubt leave her back sore for weeks. For a few moments she simply allowed herself to lie there in agony and confusion. Her head was spinning and it felt like she had just spent over twenty hours in the delivery room all over again.

Pain that excruciating had to have a reward, right?

Her mind began to flutter as she put the pieces into place.

Henry.

She had just been holding his hand, only to have him ripped away by some suction-like force of energy. They were so happy in those final seconds to be going home..

And her parents?

_Regina..._?

She tried her best to navigate herself through the foreign building, with little-to-no avail. True, she had been here before. She had only once viewed the room that had been designed to be her childhood dwelling-place.

The size of the building served as testimonial evidence that her parents were indeed the prince and princess from the books.

She stumbled again, still struggling to gain her bearings. The last twenty four hours had left her shaken, jumpy, and still exhausted. She barely remembered anything about the rescue now. Hell, she couldn't even remember half of the shit that happened on the ride over..  
There had been pain, though. That, she was very aware of.

Her heart ached for Regina and her mother, for if they had to endure even half of what she had been through...  
She knew about the tear that Snow had willingly taken in order to find Regina. Part of her felt jealous of that fact, the same part that pushed itself past her limits to ensure Madam Mayor's well-being months prior, before she had even begun to know her as simply 'Regina'.

And she would have loved to ask them about it, if she knew where they had ended up and why exactly she had wound up lying dangerously close to face down in the Charming castle corridors.

Or, for all intensive purposes, her castle..

After taking what seemed like a thousand treacherous steps towards particularly nothing, Emma Swan found exactly what she had wanted to revisit.

Once again, she stood face-to-face with the room that had been intended to be where she would have taken her first steps.

Where she would have grown up.

Everything was beautiful, even covered under layers of dust. If she tried hard enough, she could have lied there for weeks, just imagining what beauty her childhood would have been if spent here with her mother.

But she wouldn't.

Because it wasn't real; it would never be.

Her life, her reality..

Her life was, in a sense, defined by the actions of others. Maybe her struggle with life in the real world, though she was unsure what it even _was_ anymore, had just been her experience with being forced to pay the price of magic. It seemed like her whole life had been the result of some huge chain of deals gone horribly wrong.

Everything good, but also everything bad, was a product of the careful planning of others. Except now, all of the others were gone, and she was left alone to somehow pick up the pieces.

Suddenly, a hot and searing pain clouded her senses and she stumbled, barely catching herself on a nearby piece of dusty furniture before she face-planted.

In that instant, she knew there was something wrong with her still. She needed medical attention. Hell, if she had been transported back to Storybrooke as planned, her mother would have already dragged her by her long, blonde hair to the hospital in that instant.

She closed her eyes, trying to remember anything from the moment she had entered the room that withheld her son. For some reason, she had the feeling that you receive after a dream.

That feeling only meant one thing. She had been trying to hold onto something in her memory. Something her captors had said in regard to her.. or someone else.

Was it about her magic?

The more she contemplated and fought for recollection, the more severe the pain became. Finally, she resolved to letting herself collapse against the furniture, breathing coming in through raspy, tired lungs.

She only got in four short gasps until her body collapsed from exhaustion.


End file.
